Alondes Williams had 19 points and five assists as second-seeded Wake Forest advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT with an 80-74 home victory over third-seeded VCU on Saturday in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Dallas Walton recorded 16 points and seven rebounds and Jake LaRavia had 15 points and six rebounds for Wake Forest (25-9), which advanced to face top-seeded Texas A&M (25-12) on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Daivien Williamson had 14 points for the Demon Deacons, who have won 25 games for the first time since going 27-6 in the 2004-05 season. Cameron Hildreth chipped 10 points and five rebounds.
VCU (22-10) was led by Vince Williams, who scored 27 points on 7-for-15 shooting to go along with eight rebounds. Jayden Nunn added 18 points on six 3-pointers. However, no other Ram scored more than Hason Ward’s eight points.
Wake Forest took control of the game by going on 22-9 run midway through the first half to propel it to a 43-35 lead at halftime.
After VCU cut the lead to 65-62 following Ace Baldwin Jr.’s two free throws with 4:41 left, LaRavia pushed the lead to five with a layup 20 seconds later. After Vince Williams missed a jumper for VCU, Walton’s layup extended the lead to 69-62 with 3:56 left.
Wake Forest stretched its lead to 74-64 with 2:49 left following Williamson’s 3-pointer and two free throws by LaRavia.
Wake Forest shot 22 of 51 (43.1 percent) from the field, including 7 of 25 (28 percent) from 3-point range. But the Demon Deacons were much better at the free-throw line, where they went 29 of 37.
VCU committed 19 turnovers and shot 21 of 52 (40.4 percent) from the field, including 9 of 25 (36 percent) from beyond the arc.
–Field Level Media
