Late Effort Falls Short as Boston College Tops Wake 77-70 - Wake Forest University Athletics (original) (raw)

11/6/2019 9:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - A late rally for the Wake Forest basketball team fell short as the Deacons opened the season on the road, falling to ACC foe Boston College 77-70.

After posting a single point in the opening half, Brandon Childress came out hot in the second frame, finishing with 24 points on 7-for-16 shooting and added a team-best seven assists. Sophomore Isaiah Mucius had a career-night with 18 points, while Ody Oguama had an impressive Deacon debut tallying 10 points and seven rebounds.

Wake (0-1, 0-1 ACC) won the rebounding battle by a 45-34 advantage, led by Chaundee Brown with 12 boards.

"Obviously, not the result we wanted," head coach Danny Manning said. "I thought Boston College came out in that first half and took advantage of our miscues. They put us in some tough situations as far as taking care of the basketball. The points that they were able to score off our turnovers was a huge difference for us. We have to do a better job in transition defense. I thought we did some things much better in the second half- we shot fewer threes and got to the free throw line a little bit more. Across the board, I thought we rebounded the ball well, but I also thought we gave up a lot of timely offensive rebounds."

The Deacons struggled in the first 20 minutes of the season, shooting just 32 percent from the floor. Boston College (1-0, 1-0 ACC) capitalized on 10 Wake Forest first half turnovers for 12 points. BC shot 47 percent in the first half and finished the game with a 44 percent clip.

Wake Forest took an initial 9-7 lead, but the Eagles fed off a 9-0 run to take a lead that they would not relinquish. Boston College controlled an 18-point advantage, it's largest of the half, with just 30 seconds remaining before halftime. Mucius hit a three with one second on the clock as the Deacs headed to the locker room for the break facing a 42-27 deficit.

The Deacs had a stronger showing in the second half, shooting 54 percent and 50 percent from behind the arc. Childress hit seven-for-seven free throws in the half.

Junior Olivier Sarr opened scoring in the second frame with a layup and Childress hit two triples to cut Boston College's lead to 14. Torry Johnson fed Oguama right under the basket to put Wake within 12 and a jumper from Brown made it a 10 point game as BC called timeout with 10:31 to play.

Brown pulled the Deacs within seven at 67-60 with a jumper with just over two minutes to play in the game. Defensively, Wake Forest made stops to set up quick transition offensive plays on the other end of the court. Mucius capped the scoring for the Deacs finishing with a second-chance layup with just seconds remaining, but efficient free throw shooting from the Eagles sealed to game in favor of Boston College.

Wake Forest will make its season-debut in front of a home crowd on Sunday, Nov. 10 as the Deacs welcome Columbia to the Joel at 2 p.m.