Nate Calmese added another clutch-time bucket to his collection to take down the Florida State Seminoles and give the Demon Deacons their first road ACC win of the season on Saturday. Calmese’s fall-away floater gave Wake Forest the lead with 6.8 seconds remaining, and sophomore guard Juke Harris made the ensuing defensive stop on former Demon Deacon Robert McCray V to put the game away.
Florida State led most of the game, but Wake Forest kept it close and played their best basketball of the night in the final minutes to win 69-68. Following the win, Wake Forest improved to 2-3 in ACC play. They currently sit at 12th in the ACC.
“I’m really proud of my team,” Head Coach Steve Forbes said after the game. “Resilient win.”
Wake Forest has battled in close games all season long due in part to poor defensive rebounding. This was their eighth game this season to be decided by four points or less.
However, the Demon Deacons were able to clean up persistent team issues, like turning over the ball.
“We forced 16 turnovers and only turned it over five times,” Forbes said. “That was huge. It’s not rocket science by any means.”
The turnover margin proved vital for Forbes’s squad. Wake Forest scored 18 points off those turnovers, whereas Florida State only managed 8 points.
Even though Wake Forest only grabbed 28 rebounds to Florida State’s 44 rebounds, Forbes was satisfied with his team’s effort on the glass.
“We did a much better job rebounding the ball,” Forbes said.
Problems arose with 3-point shooting. Myles Colvin, Calmese and Harris, Wake Forest’s most consistent shooters, shot a combined 7 of 28 (25%) from the 3-point line. The rest of the team went 1 for 6 from beyond the arc.
However, that trio of guards shone defensively, as Calmese and Harris notched four and two steals, respectively. Harris also led the team in rebounds with nine, while Colvin turned a lane steal into a high-flying fastbreak dunk.
Chauncey Wiggins and McCray led Florida State in scoring with 15 and 12 points, respectively. McCray, a former Demon Deacon, added six rebounds and five assists, but also turned the ball over a colossal 11 times.
Wake Forest will face another familiar foe this weekend as the Demon Deacons take on the Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham on Saturday, Jan. 24.
