National Basketball Association
Wake Forest 76, Pittsburgh 75
When: 6:00 PM ET, Saturday, January 23, 2021
Where: Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Officials:
# Mark Schnur, # Bert Smith, # AJ Desai
Attendance:
79
By Field Level Media
Ismael Massoud had career highs of 31 points and eight 3-pointers Saturday to lead Wake Forest to its first Atlantic Coast Conference victory of the season, a 76-75 decision over Pittsburgh in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Jonah Antonio tied his season highs with 15 points, including four 3-pointers and highlighted the decisive second-half run for the Demon Deacons (4-6, 1-6 ACC), who provided first-year coach Steve Forbes his first ACC win.
The Demon Deacons avoided their first 0-7 start in league play since 2017-18 after holding off a late Pittsburgh (8-3, 4-2 ACC) rally.
Massoud finished 8 of 10 from beyond the arc -- tied for third most 3-point baskets in school history as Wake shot 15 of 32 from long range. Jalen Johnson had 10 points and Daivien Williamson had nine points and eight assists.
For Pitt, Big East leading scorer Justin Champagnie finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and five steals. Abdoul Karim Coulibaly had a career-high 15 points for that Panthers, who were trying to match their best start since 2013-14. Johnson added 14 points and eight assists.
Massoud tied his career high in points in the first half with 17, but Pittsburgh still led at halftime, 45-38. Pitt raised the lead to 12 in the first two minutes after intermission, but Wake Forest went on a 26-5 run to take charge.
Antonio scored 11 consecutive Demon Deacons' points over a 2 1/2-minute span to put Wake in the lead. Massoud hit three consecutive shots from deep over a two-minute span to provide Wake a 75-65 lead with 4:49 left.
The Panthers got within 76-75 with 8.4 seconds left on a fast-break layup by Xavier Johnson. But when Pitt gained after a turnover in the backcourt, Johnson missed a pull-up jumper from the left elbow that bounced off the back of the rim with two ticks left and Ody Oguama grabbed the rebound for Wake Forest.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Pittsburgh |
|
Wake Forest |
|
Justin Champagnie 17 |
Scoring |
Ismael Massoud 31 |
|
Xavier Johnson 8 |
Assists |
Daivien Williamson 8 |
|
Justin Champagnie 8 |
Rebounds |
Ody Oguama 10 |
|
Abdoul Karim Coulibaly 6 |
Free Throws Made |
Ismael Massoud 3 |
|
Justin Champagnie 5 |
Steals |
Jalen Johnson 2 |
|
Terrell Brown 1 |
Blocks |
Jalen Johnson 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Pittsburgh
|
75 |
45.8 |
5-12 |
16-23 |
16 |
29 |
2 |
11 |
11 |
| Wake Forest
|
76 |
46.4 |
15-32 |
9-12 |
18 |
27 |
5 |
6 |
15 |
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