The Demon Deacon Men’s Basketball team added another win to an already impressive opening stretch on Tuesday, November 25th, dismantling a visiting Campbell squad in one of their most complete performances of the young season.
The Deacs came out shooting in the first half, hitting three quick three-pointers and jumping out to an almost-immediate double-digit lead by the under-16 timeout. Mehki Mason got going early and often in what was one of his best performances of the season.
On the team’s quick start, Mason said, “It shows us what we can do and how much we can win by when we start the game [like that].”
Campbell initially showed some resistance, but midway through the half, things got out of hand when Wake Forest went on a 17-0 run with a great run of form defensively and potent shooting. The performance beyond the arc was certainly a difference-maker in the first half, with Wake making 7-of-17 and the Camels shooting just 2-for-15.
The whole nine-man main rotation was producing, with eight of the nine notching first-half points. The Tuesday night crowd was treated to some highlights, with Omaha Biliew dunking home a few, and a gorgeous Juke Harris behind-the-back find for a Tre’Von Spillers jam. The first half came to a close with the most uneventful stretch of the night, but Wake led 50-23 at the break.
The remainder of this game consisted of the Demon Deacons slowly but surely extending their lead. The Wake defense continued to hold the Camels to low-percentage opportunities and the offense shared the wealth. Twelve different Deacs scored, including seven with eight or more total points.
Head Coach Steve Forbes played his main rotation for the majority of the game to ensure a large margin of victory for the team’s metrics, but true freshmen Isaac Carr and Jaylen Cross got some minutes late in the game.
Finally, with a few minutes remaining, the Deacon fans got treated to the Wake Forest walk-ons, Will Underwood, Vincent Ricchiuti and Anson Beard Jr. They were quickly appeased, as Ricchiuti hit a late three-pointer that got a raucous cheer from the crowd. The final margin of 99-51 was the seventh-largest margin of victory against a Division 1 opponent in program history.
Juke Harris led the Deacs in the score sheet with 17 points, including a career-high five three-pointers. Mason followed with 16 and nine rebounds.
When asked post-game whether or not it felt like a ‘slump-buster’ for him, he responded, “Yeah, a little bit … you’ve got to stay in the gym, regardless of whether or not you’re hitting shots.”
“If we could draw it up, that’s exactly how we would’ve wanted that game to go tonight,” Forbes said postgame. “Coming out of the Bahamas, we brought back a lot of confidence after the win over Memphis. We practiced like it, and I thought we played like it.”
