Miami Tops Wake Forest 69-56
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Garrius Adams scored 22 points to lead Miami to a 69-56 win over Wake Forest on Saturday.
Adams shot 6 of 8 from the field and 9 of 9 from the free-throw line as the Hurricanes never trailed after a 14-0 run midway through the first half. Miami also withstood a Deacons' rally to end the first half.
The Hurricanes (16-15, 7-11 Atlantic Coast Conference) expanded a six-point lead at halftime and outscored Wake Forest 12-2 in the first 6:57 of the second half. Rion Brown's jumper with 13:03 remaining pushed the Hurricanes' lead to 41-25.
The Deacons got no closer than 45-35 after Aaron Rountree's dunk with 10:36 remaining. Keyed by Brown's 3-pointer and dunk, Miami outscored Wake Forest 11-2 in the next 4:04.
Brown finished with 19 points for the Hurricanes. Erik Swoope was Miami's third double-digit scorer with 10 points.
The win moved Miami past Wake Forest for a 10th place finish in the regular season conference standings.
Coron Williams scored 17 points for the Deacons (16-15, 7-11).
The Deacons rallied from an 11-point deficit with an 8-0 run late in the first half. Travis McKie's dunk with 43 seconds remaining ended the surge and cut Miami's lead to 27-23.
Adams' running jumper with 4 seconds remaining gave the Hurricanes a 29-23 lead at halftime.
The Hurricanes scored 14 unanswered points and erased a five-point deficit midway through the first half. Consecutive 3-pointers from Manu Lecomte and Davon Reed gave Miami its first lead at 15-14 with 8:20 remaining.
Brown scored five points in the Hurricanes' surge and his 3-pointer with 4:55 remaining capped the run and gave Miami a 23-14 lead.
Tyler Cavanaugh's layup with 4:20 remaining ended a scoring drought of 6:35 for the Deacons.
Lecomte's layup with 2:30 left gave the Hurricanes their first double-digit advantage at 27-16.
Williams hit two 3-pointers as the Deacons built a 14-9 lead in the first 9:05. McKie also converted from behind the arc during Wake Forest's early advantage.
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