Isaiah Mucius made a 3-point basket with two seconds remaining and Wake Forest escaped with an 82-79 victory against Charlotte in the nightcap of Friday’s Basketball Hall of Fame Shootout in Charlotte, N.C.
The Demon Deacons had a big lead vanish before pulling out the victory. Mucius made two 3s in the final 80 seconds.
Clyde Trapp made a 3 for Charlotte with 31 seconds left to tie the score 79 all.
Alondes Williams scored 18 of his 34 points for the Demon Deacons in the first half. Mucius ended up with 20 points and Dallas Walton chipped in with 14.
Wake Forest (11-1) continued its best start to a season in more than a dozen years.
Mucius had four of Wake Forest’s seven 3-point baskets.
Jahmir Young led Charlotte (5-5) with 27 points, Trapp provided 17 points and Aly Khalifa added 10 points.
The teams played at the city’s NBA arena, so it was a neutral-site encounter. It was their fifth meeting in six seasons.
The teams shot nearly identical numbers from the field with Charlotte at 53.3 percent and Wake Forest at 52.3 percent.
Williams shot 15-for-23 from the field to go with eight rebounds and seven assists.
Charlotte’s comeback came in several stages. The 49ers climbed to within 66-62 just inside of the nine-minute mark.
Wake Forest stretched the lead back to 74-63 before another surge from the 49ers, who were hurt eventually by making just eight of 15 attempts from the free-throw line.
The Demon Deacons led 48-34 at halftime, buoyed by 65.6 percent shooting from the field.
Wake Forest held a double-digit lead barely four minutes into the game.
Wake Forest didn’t have a reserve score in the game. It was the second game in a row for the Demon Deacons without second-leading scorer Jake LaRavia, who has been sick.
–Field Level Media
