In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Wake Forest’s basketball team wrapped up their regular season with a commanding 69-43 victory over Georgia Tech. Efton Reid was instrumental in the win, contributing 12 points and securing 13 rebounds. At the halfway mark, Reid was just one point short of achieving a double-double, during a first half in which the Demon Deacons surged to a 34-15 advantage over the struggling Yellow Jackets, who could not narrow the gap to fewer than 16 points and ultimately fell behind by as many as 31 in the second half.
Both teams have successfully earned a bye in the first round of the upcoming Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, scheduled to kick off Tuesday in Charlotte, North Carolina. Cameron Hildreth was the top scorer for Wake Forest, delivering 14 points, while Hunter Sallis contributed 13. The Demon Deacons, boasting a record of 21-10 and 13-7 in the ACC, matched their program record for most league wins.
On the Georgia Tech side, Baye Ndongo achieved 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Jaeden Mustaf added 12 points to the tally. Ibrahim Souare contributed 11 rebounds and eight points for the Yellow Jackets, who had their season-lowest scoring game. Shooting just 29.6% overall (16 out of 54 attempts) and a mere 3 out of 23 from beyond the arc, Georgia Tech struggled to connect with the basket.
Wake Forest executed a decisive 12-1 scoring run to seize a 22-11 lead and capped off the first half by netting the final 12 points, ending on a 34-15 note. Although Wake Forest connected on only 35% of their field goals, with six successful 3-point attempts, Georgia Tech’s shooting woes were more pronounced, hitting only 18.5% from the field and two from 17 attempts on 3-point shots.
Following a 3-pointer from Lance Terry that brought the game to a tie at 10, Georgia Tech hit a scoring drought, missing the subsequent 10 shots until Ibrahim Souare’s dunk nearly eight minutes later. Wake Forest, in the meantime, experienced a cold spell as well, missing eight consecutive shots during that stretch. Despite this, Wake Forest concluded the game with an overall shooting percentage of 38%, including 11 from 31 on 3-pointers.
