The last four minutes of a game can influence an entire season.
Those four minutes were not only won by Wake Forest in their victory over in-state rival No. 8 Duke, 83-79, but they solidified a win over a top opponent that builds their resumé come March.
To say that the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum was rocking would be an understatement. The Demon Deacon fanbase packed in for the first sellout since Jan. 28th, 2017 — which was also against Duke.
The first half saw Duke soar ahead behind an 8-0 run, through impressive perimeter shooting and well-executed half court offense. However, it was never enough to create a substantial lead. Center Kyle Filipowski (17pts, 8rebs) led the Blue Devils in scoring throughout the night, with ten of his points coming in the first half.
“[Filipowski], he’s a handful,” Wake Forest Head Coach Steve Forbes said. “He can score from three, you can post up, it’s why he’s probably a top-10 draft pick.”
Meanwhile, Wake Forest lessened the deficit behind spectacular play from guard Hunter Sallis (29pts, 6reb), who showed up in a big game yet again. After leading his team in scoring two weeks at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium two weeks ago, Sallis remained the priority, finishing the night on an efficient 11-13 shooting from the field.
Sallis and the Demon Deacons were able to reduce the halftime deficit, heading into the locker room down two points.
The front part of the second half was filled with offensive runs. The Demon Deacons struck first through a trio of 3-pointers from Sallis, putting them up five by the under-16 media timeout.
Then, the Blue Devils struck back. After guard Tyrese Proctor (14pts, 5-10 FG) hit a pair of shots from downtown, freshman teammate Jared McCain (15pts, 5reb) knocked down another to put Duke back up four.
Despite the run, Duke found themselves battling with foul trouble, having to sit Ryan Young (3pts, 3reb) with 11 minutes remaining due to his fourth foul. Young later fouled out at the six minute mark. Filipowski dealt with trouble as well, earning his fourth foul with five minutes remaining.
After a lowly first half, Wake Forest’s Andrew Carr (18pts, 4ast) ramped up his performance in the final 20 minutes of play. All but two of his points came after halftime as the forward created mismatches against Duke’s forward Mark Mitchell (6pts, 4reb). Carr and Sallis led the Demon Deacons in second half scoring, combining for 31 points.
“[Sallis] was at a high level the whole game,” Forbes said. “He’s a special player and played an unbelievable second half on both sides of the ball. [Carr] was solid, too.”
The Demon Deacons had big plays over the final stretch, with a clutch steal by guard Cameron Hildreth (12pts, 4reb) and finish by guard Kevin “Boopie” Miller (15pts, 5ast) with just over a minute remaining on the clock. Filipowski responded with a 3-pointer on the other end, despite a rough shooting night from deep, and the Demon Deacons couldn’t answer on the other end after an errant shot by Carr with 12 seconds remaining.
Despite being down for the latter, Duke suddenly had a chance to respond, although a fumbled pass from Proctor to Filipowski resulted in a Blue Devil turnover. The resulting out-of-bounds play forced them to intentionally foul Sallis with 2.8 seconds left.
Sallis sank the pair of free throws to put the Blue Devils away, despite their best efforts with a final heave, the visitors fell to the Demon Deacons, 83-79.
The win resulted in a postgame court storm by students, which resulted in controversy ensued after a fan collided with Filipowski. More on the incident to come.
The Demon Deacons travel to South Bend, Indiana, to face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Tuesday, Feb. 27. Tip-off in the Joyce Center is set for 9 p.m on ACC Network.
