Never too late

Fashionably late for the New Year's Eve party, Wake Forest's Ari Stewart and Al-Farouq Aminu arrived in time to pop the cork on a sparkling 74-68 overtime victory over dogged Richmond in front of 10,210 at Joel Coliseum.

Stewart nailed a clutch 3-pointer for a five-point lead with 19 seconds remaining, and Aminu scored eight of his 16 points in overtime as the Deacons pulled out as good a victory as they've had this season. At least that's how Coach Dino Gaudio described it after his team rallied from an eight-point first-half deficit by holding the Spiders of the Atlantic 10 to one 3-pointer in their final 17 attempts.

Wake Forest shot 37.5 percent from the field and 17.6 percent from 3-point range but improved to 10-2 by out-rebounding Richmond 48-32 and allowing the Spiders just six points in the final 6½ minutes.

Richmond, which has beaten Mississippi State, Missouri and Florida this season, fell to 10-4 despite a career-high 31 points from junior guard Kevin Anderson.

"That was great because we know we can win those nitty-gritty, down-to-the-wire overtime games," senior L.D. Williams said. "That's big for our confidence late in the year."

Aminu was virtually a nonfactor in the first 30 minutes against Richmond's sloughing defense, when he had almost as many fouls (four) as points (five). But after sitting out for four minutes, he played the final 14 minutes without picking up his fifth foul.

He came alive in overtime, working free for a field goal and six free throws on eight attempts. His driving basket off a feed from Chas McFarland put the Deacons ahead to stay at 67-65 with two minutes remaining.

"In the first half, their zone really gave me some problems because it was really packed in," Aminu said. "But you've just got to keep on keeping on.

"I knew I probably wasn't going to get my numbers tonight because they were really locked in on us and had a good game plan for me. My teammates just kept looking for me, and I was able to capitalize in the post."

Williams, who contributed 10 points, 10 rebounds and four steals, said that the Deacons finally found the answer to the Spiders' swarm of defenders in the lane.

"It was just a matter of us just keep running things over and over," Williams said. "We found one of our offenses that really worked good for us late in the game, and we just kept going to it. There were a couple of options they really weren't guarding well, and we did a really good job of finishing around the paint and knocking down free throws down the stretch."

Stewart, a 6-7 freshman, managed only three points in 14 minutes of regulation before scoring four in overtime. His free throw with 2½ minutes left gave the Deacons a 65-63 lead, and his 3-pointer with 19 seconds remaining dealt the decisive blow.

The Deacons spread into the four corners and ran the shot clock inside five seconds before passing to Stewart at the top of the key. With two defenders rushing at him, Stewart drained the 3-pointer for a 71-66 lead.

"I told him that, for a freshman, I was proud of him," Gaudio said. "He kept his head in the game and didn't dip his head when he didn't play a lot in the second half, and he made a really big shot for us."

Guard Ishmael Smith said that Stewart almost didn't get his shot at glory.

"I'm not going to lie to you, I was about to shoot it," Smith said. "But I saw him open and I kicked it to him. I felt like there were three people on me, so somebody was open.

"He shaped up and hit a big three."

The Deacons had a shot at winning in regulation after McFarland rebounded a 3-point attempt by David Gonzalvez that came up short with six seconds remaining. McFarland threw an outlet pass to Williams, who dribbled into the right corner and forced up a jumper over Gonzalvez that didn't make the rim.

McFarland hustled into position and hit a follow shot, but after checking the monitor, official Karl Hess ruled that the basket came after the buzzer.

"My eyes lit up," Williams said. "I was like, ‘What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?' So I dribbled and I started heading to the rim, and Gonzalvez actually catches back up and pushes me off my dribble.

"I didn't have anywhere to go so I just tried to throw it up to the front of the rim and let somebody else make a play.

"That's another learning experience. For me to catch it next time, I know I've got to get to the rim."

The Deacons outscored the Spiders 30-20 on points in the lane, with McFarland contributing 13 points and 12 rebounds in 32 of his best minutes of the season.

"I'd be remiss if I didn't say that Chas McFarland had an outstanding game." Gaudio said.

dcollins@wsjournal.com.
727-7323

RICH. MP FG FT OR-T A F PT

Harper 22 3-8 2-4 3-5 0 5 10

Butler 26 3-5 1-2 1-5 4 2 8

Duinker 3 0-2 0-0 0-1 1 0 0

Gonzalvez 40 2-11 3-4 1-2 3 3 8

Anderson 44 12-21 5-5 0-4 0 3 31

Garrett 26 1-2 0-1 1-5 0 5 2

Brothers 2 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

KSmith 10 1-1 0-0 0-2 0 5 2

Martel 9 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 3 0

Robbins 6 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

Geriot 37 2-8 3-5 1-4 2 3 7

Totals 225 24-59 14-21 7-32 10 29 68

Percentages: FG .407, FT .667. 3-Point Goals: 6-24, .250 (Harper 2-4, Anderson 2-5, Butler 1-3, Gonzalvez 1-9, Geriot 0-3). Team Rebounds: 1. Blocked Shots: 4 (Garrett 3, Harper). Turnovers: 14 (Anderson 4, Gonzalvez 3, Butler 2, K.Smith 2, Geriot, Harper, Garrett). Steals: 9 (Anderson 3, Gonzalvez 3, Garrett, Harper, Butler). Technical Fouls: None.

WFU MP FG FT OR-T A F PT

Aminu 35 3-7 10-15 2-8 1 4 16

Weaver 21 1-3 4-4 1-1 0 1 7

Smith 43 5-14 2-2 2-5 7 2 13

Harris 30 2-6 4-4 0-2 0 5 8

Williams 38 5-11 0-0 2-10 1 3 10

Clark 7 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 1 0

McFarland 32 3-6 7-9 5-12 0 2 13

Stewart 17 2-7 2-4 1-5 0 1 7

Woods 2 0-0 0-2 1-2 0 0 0

Totals 225 21-56 29-40 16-48 10 19 74

Percentages: FG .375, FT .725. 3-Point Goals: 3-17, .176 (Weaver 1-2, Smith 1-4, Stewart 1-5, Aminu 0-1, Williams 0-2, Harris 0-3). Team Rebounds: 1. Blocked Shots: 3 (Aminu 2, McFarland). Turnovers: 15 (Smith 5, McFarland 3, Aminu 2, Harris, Clark, Stewart, Weaver, Williams). Steals: 6 (Williams 4, Clark, Smith). Technical Fouls: None.

Richmond 29 33 6 -- 68
Wake Forest 29 33 12 -- 74

A--10,210.