Chop Chat
Fansided

FSU Basketball: Noles roll Wake Forest to win fourth straight

By Kelvin Hunt

Feb 6, 2016; Winston-Salem, NC, USA; Florida State Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton talks with the players during a timeout in the first half against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 6, 2016; Winston-Salem, NC, USA; Florida State Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton talks with the players during a timeout in the first half against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

FSU Basketball gets its 16th win.

The FSU Basketball team captured its fourth consecutive win in ACC play to continue building their NCAA tournament resume. The Noles defeated the free-falling Wake Forest Demon Deacons by a score of 91-71. The final score is not indicative of how close the majority of the game was before FSU ran away with it late.

The game got off to a tremendously slow start with FSU going 2-7 from the floor for a 5-4 lead after five minutes of play. However, the scoring picked up quickly with both teams beginning to find their mark from long-range. FSU was (3-5) and Wake Forest was (3-5) with FSU leading 19-18 at the 9:57 mark.

Neither team could really pull away from the other as the biggest lead for each team was three points up to this point. The Noles did a good job of forcing six turnovers, but the hot shooting of Wake Forest gave them a 23-21 lead at the 7:50 TV timeout mark.

The Deacons continued their torrid shooting for the next four minutes with 5-9 three pointers made, leading the Noles 31-27 for the largest lead of the game at the 3:50 mark. The Noles had committed seven fouls at this point which lead to Wake Forest going 6-10 from the free throw line. FSU was lucky they were not facing a bigger deficit at this point.

More from Chop Chat

However, the Noles began to get some stops on defense and a Malik Beasley layup gave the Noles the lead 34-33 at the 1:17 mark. The Noles managed another layup and a free throw to push the lead to 37-33 at the half.

Four time ACC freshman of the week Dwayne Bacon lead the way with nine points, and Malik Beasley had eight points at the half. Wake Forest finished the half shooting 41 percent, much lower than the majority of the first half where they were shooting over 50 percent.

The Noles began the second half strong, two Boris Bojanovsky layup, and a Xavier Rathan-Mayes pushed the lead to 10 and forced Wake Forest to call a timeout at the 18:23 mark.

The timeout worked as Wake Forest cut the lead to 43-39 at 15:56, largely due to the Noles settling for jump shots and giving up layups.

Wake Forest continued to cut into the lead, knotting the game up at 48-48 at the 13:50 mark. However, Devon Bookert and Benji Bell three pointers helped FSU push the lead to 60-53 at the 10 minute mark. At this point the Noles were shooting near 47 percent overall and 39 percent from long-range with only five turnovers.

Malik Beasley pushed the lead to 11 points with a three pointer at the 8:34 mark, but two Cornelius Hudson free throws for Wake Forest cut the lead to nine points at the next TV timeout.

Wake Forest couldn’t get any closer than eight points for the reminder of the game as the Noles defeated Wake Forest 91-71  to win their fourth consecutive game in ACC play.

It was a strong overall effort after a slow start with five players scoring in double figures. The Noles now stand at (16-7, 6-5 ACC) overall.

The FSU Basketball team will be back in action Thursday, February 11, at 7 p.m. ET against Syracuse.

Home/FSU Basketball