Wake Forest basketball could not win this year’s Wolverine-Deacon challenge, as No. 6 Michigan narrowly escaped with the 85-84 overtime victory. The Demon Deacons took their first loss of the season, but they showed legit tournament potential against a true national title contender.
The first half went back and forth between these two teams. Balanced scoring and strong three-point defense helped the Demon Deacons keep the score close in the beginning. Early on in the game, however, several starters found themselves in foul trouble. The small ball Demon Deacons struggled to contain Aday Mara, Michigan’s 7’3” Spanish center.
“We did a pretty good job guarding them in the half-court, and then we started to foul,” Head Coach Steve Forbes said. “They went to line a ton in the first half.”
When Forbes subbed in the bench after his starters racked up fouls, Michigan went on a big scoring run. Backup guard Sebastian Akins nailed two jump shots to end the half with a score of 47-34 in favor of Michigan.
In the second half, Juke Harris took over. The sophomore from Salisbury, NC, led a big Wake Forest run, tipping in a putback, draining a three-pointer and converting an and-one to bring Michigan’s lead down to just five.
With under seven minutes to go in the game, the uber-athletic forward Myles Colvin delivered the dunk of the season. Colvin not only caught the pass in transition from Nate Calmese, but he caught a body as he left former North Carolina Tar Heel Elliot Cadeau embarrassed on the hardwood. Colvin’s incredible and-one slam gave Wake Forest the lead at 69-68. Soon after, with one minute left, Colvin drilled a three-pointer to give the Demon Deacons the 80-78 lead.
It would be Cadeau who got the last laugh, though. He drove baseline after fooling Mekhi Mason with a pump fake to send the game to overtime at 80-80. In overtime, he drilled a free throw with 13 seconds left to put the Wolverines up by one. Cadeau had an impressive performance with 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
On the final play of the game, Calmese drove to the basket and missed the game-winning scoop floater over Mara. Mara had his fingerprints all over this game, posting an efficient 18 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and five blocked shots.
“He changed the game,” Forbes said. “Not only did he block a lot of shots, but he changed a lot of them too.”
Although a close loss to a top program stings for a team like Wake Forest, which hasn’t made the NCAA tournament since 2017, fans can be encouraged by the Demon Deacons’ 17 forced turnovers while holding Michigan to 4-25 shooting from the three-point line.
“Hopefully we can learn from this,” Forbes said. “We have a game Sunday, and then we go play in the Bahamas.
