'Noles hold off Deacs 51-47: Wake Forest's skid reaches four games; Aminu held scoreless

Florida State zoned Wake Forest right out of last night's game at the Tucker Center and into the first round of the ACC Tournament.

Ari Stewart drove into the teeth of the Seminoles' zone and was bitten hard on the climatic play of the Deacons' fourth straight loss, a 51-47 setback that eliminated any chance of a first-round bye in next week's ACC Tournament.

Even with a victory over Clemson in Sunday's regular-season finale, Wake Forest can finish no better than 9-7 in conference play.

Virginia Tech and Florida State are both 9-6 and both hold tiebreakers over the Deacons. The Seminoles improved to 21-8 overall and Wake Forest tumbled to 18-9.

"This is a tough one to swallow," senior point guard Ish Smith said. "The best we can finish is fifth. So we need to do that, finish fifth, which is not bad in this league.

"We'll see."

The Deacons lost despite holding the Seminoles to four field goals on 19 second-half attempts, none of which were made in the final 4½ minutes. But they had to play the final 5:51 without leading scorer Al-Farouq Aminu, who fouled out of the first scoreless game of his college career.

Aminu, who entered the game averaging 16.4 points a game, took only two shots from the floor and two from the free-throw line. He didn't attempt a shot in 10 minutes of second-half action.

"I've got to get more production out of myself," Aminu said. "They're relying on me to make shots, so I'm going to have to be more aggressive and start making shots."

The Deacons rallied from a nine-point first-half deficit to take a 36-35 lead with 11:39 left, but could never claw back ahead after Xavier Gibson answered with a follow shot.

After Smith missed a 3-pointer with the shot clock running down with Wake Forest trailing 49-47, Florida State turned the ball back over on Michael Snaer's bad pass to Solomon Alabi.

Coach Dino Gaudio of the Deacons then called his final timeout with 23.6 remaining. His play called for Smith to run the shot clock down to 12 before attacking the basket.

"We weren't going to hold it for just one shot," Gaudio said. "We were supposed to take it with 12 (seconds left). That way we were going to get a second opportunity.

"We weren't trying to just hold it for one. We didn't want to rush in and take a shot with 20 (seconds left). On the road, a chance to tie, go into overtime. I like our chances in overtime."

Smith drove into the zone, and passed to the left wing to Stewart. When 6-9 wing forward Chris Singleton rushed out, Stewart took a hard dribble into the zone, and had the ball knocked away by junior guard Derwin Kitchen.

Snaer then hit two free throws to put the game away.

"Chris Singleton came over and closed out on me," Stewart said. "He's 6-9 and leading the ACC in blocked shots, so I'm not going to try to shoot over him.

"I took my chance of taking one dribble and going to the basket. I went in and tried to make a play and unfortunately turned it over."

Singleton is actually tied for second in the ACC with 1.9 blocked shots per game against conference competition.

The Seminoles began both halves in a man-to-man before turning to a 1-2-2 zone down the stretch. The Deacons made 10 of their first 14 field-goal attempts in the first half, only to miss their final eight.

They then drilled six of 11 in the second half before Florida State again resorted to the zone. After C.J. Harris hit a step-in jumper on Wake Forest's first possession against the 1-2-2, the Deacons managed only three free throws the rest of the way.

Over their final nine possessions, the Deacons missed all five field-goal attempts and turned the ball over three times to finish with 20 turnovers.

"It was effective," Stewart said of the FSU zone. "They extended the passing lanes on both ends of the floor and it made it hard for Ish to deliver the ball to us.

"And for Gary (Clark), C.J. and myself, it was a lot tougher in the second half to get shots off.

The Deacons shot 39 percent in the second half and 43 percent for the game, and had two baskets off fast breaks.

"I just think we weren't attacking enough," Gaudio said. "I just wish we'd been in a better attack mode.

"But we're not a great 3-point shooting team. And I think the thing that made the zone a little bit more effective for them was they were really crowding Ish at the top so he couldn't penetrate."

dcollins@wsjournal.com.


727-7323

WFU Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts

Aminu 28 0-2 0-2 1-4 1 5 0

McFarland 31 2-4 1-2 0-7 1 4 5

Woods 19 1-2 0-2 4-5 0 4 2

Smith 40 7-14 0-0 0-5 1 2 14

Williams 34 1-5 2-2 1-1 2 1 4

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

Harris 20 2-3 7-7 0-0 1 2 12

Stewart 16 3-8 0-0 0-2 0 0 8

Weaver 10 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2

Totals 200 17-40 10-15 7-26 6 20 47

Percentages: FG .425, FT .667; 3-Point Goals: 3-11, .273 (Stewart 2-4, Harris 1-2, Williams 0-1, Aminu 0-1, Smith 0-1, McFarland 0-1, Clark 0-1); Team Rebounds: 2; Blocked Shots: 2 (Aminu 2); Turnovers: 20 (Aminu 4, Harris 4, Stewart 3, Smith 3, Williams 3, McFarland 2); Steals: 7 (Williams 3, Smith 2, Harris, Aminu); Technical Fouls: None.

FSU Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts

Singleton 38 1-8 2-4 3-8 0 2 5

Reid 15 1-3 1-2 1-1 0 4 3

Alabi 30 2-8 6-8 0-0 0 2 10

Snaer 33 4-6 6-6 0-4 1 0 14

Kitchen 31 1-3 0-0 2-4 6 1 2

Gibson 17 4-5 0-2 1-2 0 3 10

Loucks 12 0-3 2-2 0-3 3 0 2

Dulkys 24 2-5 0-0 1-2 0 3 5

Totals 200 15-41 17-24 10-28 10 15 51

Percentages: FG .366, FT .708; 3-Point Goals: 4-16, .250 (Gibson 2-2, Dulkys 1-3, Singleton 1-5, Snaer 0-2, Loucks 0-2, Kitchen 0-2); Team Rebounds: 4; Blocked Shots: 3 (Alabi 2, Gibson); Turnovers: 15 (Alabi 4, Kitchen 3, Snaer 2, Gibson 2, Singleton 2, Reid 2); Steals: 12 (Kitchen 5, Singleton 4, Loucks, Alabi, Dulkys); Technical Fouls: None.

Wake Forest 25 22 -- 47


Florida State 31 20 -- 51

A--8,178