John Dell
For a team that prides itself on defense, Wake Forest failed to answer the bell when it mattered most Wednesday night against scrappy Florida State.
The Demon Deacons lost, 72-70,in front of just under 9,000 fans.at Joel Coliseum despite having a 16-point lead early in the second half.
With four minutes left and at the final media timeout, Wake Forest had a nine-point lead. The Seminoles, however, outscored the Demon Deacons 18-7 the rest of the way to get the victory. Florida State scored on their final eight possessions after the final media timeout.
Coach Steve Forbes, who is in his fifth season and is still trying desperately to make the NCAA tournament, didn't mince words in his post-game news conference.
"That was a really bad loss," Forbes said of losing a Quad 3 game on their home floor. "It's probably the worst loss that I've had here. We have nobody to blame but ourselves. We gave up 51 points in the second half and had no urgency to defend."
The Seminoles (15-9, 6-7 ACC) scored on 12 of their final 15 possessions but the dagger was a 3-pointer from a wide open Taylor Bol Bowen with 15 seconds left.
Forbes called his final timeout with 28 seconds left, then got a perfect give-and-go dunk out of the out of bounds play from Cam Hildreth to Efton Reid with 24 seconds left that gave the Demon Deacons a 69-67 lead.
Coach Leonard Hamilton, who is retiring at the end of the season, called his final timeout as well with 22 seconds left. Forbes said one of his final instructions was to guard the 3-point shooters.
But Bowen got free from Tre'Von Spillers and made the go-ahead jumper that deflated the entire building.
"I just happen to be open and I made the most of the opportunity," said Bowen, who had 15 points and was 3 of 6 on 3-point attempts.
"I got caught up in a slip in the heat of the game," Spillers said. "(Malique Ewin) slipped to the basket and I took him and I left (Bowen) open and that was a bad mistake on my part."
There were plenty of mistakes to go around as the Demon Deacons (18-7, 10-4 ACC) couldn't close out the Seminoles. Coming back from the West Coast trip with wins over Stanford and Cal, their energy seemed depleted, but Forbes wasn't offering that as an excuse.
"The frustrating thing is as poorly as we played in the second half defensively, we still had a nine-point lead with four minutes to go," Forbes said. "All we have to do is finish it out, play smart and get a couple of stops and we didn't do it."
After Bowen's 3-pointer and without any timeouts, the Demon Deacons didn't run anything close to a play and Ty-Laur Johnson dribbled down and hoisted a long 3-pointer that missed with eight seconds left. Bowen got the rebound and Justin Thomas made a breakaway dunk with two seconds left for a 72-69 lead.
"With what we had going and to give up 51 points in the second half is inexcusable," Forbes said.
The Demon Deacons actually had another shot to tie the game after it was ruled that Cam Hildreth was fouled with less than a second to go on a half-court shot. Hildreth, however, missed two of the three free throws that could have tied the game.
"We told them to attack the basket and go, and (Johnson) shot up a 45-foot three-pointer with 13 seconds left," Forbes said. "That's on me. After all that, we still had the opportunity because they fouled us on the three-point shot, and we just missed the free throws."
Hunter Sallis (20 points and six rebounds), Hildreth (22 points) and Reid (eight points and 10 rebounds) along with Spillers (13 points, four assists and four rebounds) carried the offensive load, but it wasn't enough.
"Stuff happens," Sallis said about Bowen getting free for a 3-pointer. "We just slipped up on the coverage and Bowen hit the shot."
Forbes said he was hoping Sallis or Hildreth would have gotten the ball instead of Johnson's errant.
"There's nothing you could see there," Forbes said. "I wanted Hunter to get the ball and he was right behind him and I thought he would turn and give it to him, and (Johnson) pulled up from where he pulled up from. I didn't discuss it with him afterwards in the locker room."
The Demon Deacons had their three-game win streak snapped and will head to Dallas to play SMU on Saturday. They'll face a former teammate in point guard Boopie Miller.
Now the task for the Demon Deacons is to somehow put this loss in their rearview mirror.
Teams that traveled to Stanford and Cal are now 1-6 at home coming back after the trip.
"We were priding ourselves on being the team that didn't do that," Forbes said. "We had it right there and didn't finish."
Not counting Forbes' first season at Wake Forest, the Demon Deacons are 18-14 over the last four seasons during the regular season in February and March. Last season, they struggled down the stretch and went 5-6 in those two months and missed out on the NCAA tournament.
PHOTOS: Wake Forest falls to Florida State, 72-70, in men's basketball
336-727-4081
@johndellWSJ
Coach Steve Forbes in Feb./March
2024-25: 3-1
2023-24: 5-6
2022-23: 4-4
2021-22: 6-3
Totals: 18-14
Be the first to know
Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. John Dell Author email Follow John Dell Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today