Danny Manning's squad won their third game in the last four conference matches, knocking Miami off 72-70.
The Deacs got off to a ridiculously hot start in the first half, behind an alarming eleven threes including a five-for-five 16 point performance from freshman Dinos Mitoglou en route to a solid 42-33 lead. While the Deacs were unable to get anything meaningful going on inside throughout the first 20 minutes, they were unstoppable from outside and connected on a remarkable 11 of 18 from behind the arc. Despite this hot shooting start, Wake held a shaky nine point lead thanks to eleven points from Davon Reed and eight points from Sheldon McClellan. Manning's squad was able to keep star guard Angel Rodriguez, a transfer from Kansas State, off the scoreboard for the entirety of the first half.
Wake started the second half getting the ball inside to Devin for a quick two forcing Miami to take a quick timeout. Following a Miami bucket, Wake again fed Devin down low for an easy layup to give the Deacs a 46-35 lead with just over sixteen minutes remaining in the game. The Deacs were consistently aggressive on the defensive end of the floor and looking for easy buckets inside, taking only one shot from beyond the arc prior to the first tv timeout of the second half. Miami was able to get to the bucket, draw contact and get to the line in addition finishing quickly in transition to cut the Wake halftime lead to 46-39 with just over 15 minutes to play.
Wake kept running an inside out game, looking to find bunnies for easy twos and continue to extend their lead and pushed the lead back out to 54-42 before Angel Rodriguez began to heat up, drilling his first three of the game, and scoring his seventh points of the half and game. Following a Darius Leonard follow inside, drawing the fourth foul on Tonye Jekiri before the twelve minute mark, Wake jumped back out to a 56-45 lead at the second tv timeout of the half.
Rodriguez continued his stellar play in the second half and kept getting to the free throw line, hitting a layup with the foul to cut the Wake lead to 60-56. After missing the free throw, Rodriguez got fouled again on the next possession, hitting both free throws to make it 60-58 Wake with just over 9 minutes left. The Canes got another stop and tied it up on the next possession but Rodriguez picked up an ill advised foul in the backcourt, his fourth of the game, forcing Jim Larranaga's hand on substitutions.
Following a Wilbekin free throw to take the lead back 61-60, Miami answered with a layup to take the lead at 62-61 for the first time since it was 5-4 in the first half. Wake was unable to buy a bucket from the field, missing several point blank layups, but continued to crash the boards hard even though they couldn't finish anything. Mitoglou put the Deacs back on top 63-62 with 5:36 left after two free throws and switched to a full court press to try and put some pressure on the Canes in the back court. Miami responded with two free throws of their own to take back the lead 64-63 and on the next possession gained a three point lead with a hook shot inside.
Wake still couldn't buy a basket but following a turnover, Devin Thomas was fouled going up for a defensive rebound and the Deacs trailing 66-63 at the under four timeout. Thomas made one of two and after a Miami response basket to go up four, Dinos hit his sixth three of the game to cut the Miami lead to 68-67 with three minutes left. Following a stop, CMM drove down the lane and got nothing but net in addition to a foul to net his 1000th career point as a Demon Deacon. He hit the free throw to put Wake up 70-68 with 2:10 remaining.
McClellan was able to follow his own miss and put back an easy layup to knot it at 70. The Deacs set up their halfcourt offense on the next drive and a cutting CMM found Devin for an easy two to put Wake back on top with 1:30 left 72-70. Following a timeout after almost losing the ball, Miami turned it over when the ball got loose and Thomas went to the ground to come out with the ball. Manning called timeout with the ball in the half court and 46 seconds left with a 19 second differential between play clock and game clock with the Deacs up two.
CMM missed a layup as the play clock ran down and Miami grabbed the board before calling timeout to draw up the last play. The ball went into the backcourt to Rodriguez in the backcourt who never gave the ball up and had a solid drive to the basket with just seconds to spare but the layup rimmed in and out as the clock expired, giving Wake the 72-70 home win. With the win Wake moved to 4-8 in the conference.
Dinos Mitoglou led the way for the Deacs with 21 and 8 while Devin contributed 13 and five while CMM threw in eight points, seven assists, and six rebounds. Wake plays again on Saturday against second-ranked Virginia in Charlottesville.
