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GREENSBORO, N.C. — It’s impossible for Jesse Edwards to describe the feeling of losing a close game. But it’s one he’s experienced countless times this season, fittingly again in Syracuse’s last matchup of the year. 

Wake Forest took full advantage of a final swing, awarding Daivien Williamson a game-winning, last second 3-pointer after Syracuse failed to take the lead. All Edwards could do was stare at Williamson’s shot and hope that it didn’t go in so SU had a chance in overtime. But it did.  

“We just couldn’t get the stop at the other end,” head coach Jim Boeheim said. 

Syracuse’s (17-15, 10-10 Atlantic Coast) 77-74 defeat to Wake Forest (19-13, 10-10 ACC) was the sixth time this season it has lost a game by five points or less. This loss stung even more, though, because the Orange handled the Demon Deacons convincingly at home five days ago. But Wake Forest’s improvements in less than week outmatched SU’s with its balanced attack giving the zone issues down the stretch. The game had all the inklings for a close win, but that evaporated once Williamson’s shot fell through. 

“It doesn’t matter if you play them a week ago, a month ago or a year ago,” Joe Girard III said. “We knew they were going to be a different team. It’s just unfortunate that we couldn’t come out on top.”

Throughout all their close wins this year, the Orange have had the dependability of Edwards, Girard and Judah Mintz. In their 62-61 win over Notre Dame in December, Edwards and Girard combined for 42 points. Then, with 20 seconds left, Mintz, who had scored seven points up to that point, used a screen and an open lane to drop in a go-ahead, right-handed layup to grant Syracuse a one-point lead. 

But Edwards was doubled from the get-go, Girard was faceguarded by Cameron Hildreth and Mintz had an off-night, going 7-for-21 from the field. The Orange needed more options, and they finally found some from their forwards. 

Chris Bell has been responsible for a corner 3 every now and then, Maliq Brown can provide Edwards some help on the boards and Benny Williams has shown he can go on a scoring run. But only Williams has taken over a game, and multiple forwards have not heavily contributed this entire year.

Davien Williamson celebrates by raising three fingers into the air after scoring the game-winning 3-pointer to give Wake Forest a 77-74 win. Courtesy of the ACC

After nailing his corner 3, Bell stationed himself in the same position a minute later. Instead of waiting for a kick-out pass, he bolted into the lane, catching a laser from Mintz for a wide-open layup. When Williams missed a step back 3-pointer, Bell was the only SU player to go for the rebound, securing it and feeding Williams again. 

Williams drilled his second-chance 3-pointer from the right wing, converting on another deep ball from the opposite side to extend the Orange’s lead to eight. He also finished a wide-open layup after the Demon Deacons’ double-team on Edwards backfired. 

“Everybody can make shots, but what else can you do? That’s all we were trying to do, be active,” Bell said. 

Williams continued to make an impact, putting back a contested missed jumper from Edwards. He swatted away an inbound lob attempt too, leading to an easy layup for Mintz in transition. Still, the Demon Deacons were only down by two at half, eight less than last weekend.

Syracuse started to miss shots at the start of the second half, which Boeheim said took a toll on the defense. The Demon Deacons took the lead with back-to-back baskets at the start of the period and Tyree Appleby’s lob to Bobi Klintman empathically extended their lead to six with 14 minutes left.

Boeheim called a timeout, but SU wasn’t much better out of the break. Mintz missed short on a drawn-up play then Girard fell to the ground and lost the ball. Appleby nailed a 3 in transition after Girard’s turnover and Williamson knocked down another 3 following a missed wide-open layup from Mintz. Boeheim called another timeout with Wake Forest up by 12. 

This was unfamiliar territory for the Orange, who hadn’t completed a 12-point comeback since defeating Notre Dame 78-73 two months ago. The key to help SU come out on top of that win was Bell and the full-court press. The latter made the difference again in Greensboro. 

Benny Williams guards Wake Forest’s Cameron Hildreth in Syracuse’s first game of the ACC Tournament. Williams finished with 18 points in the loss. Courtesy of the ACC

After Williams nailed a 3-pointer from the left wing, Girard deflected Wake Forest’s inbounds pass straight to Mintz, who hesitated to let a defender blow by before finishing the layup. Less than a minute later, the Demon Deacons completed the inbounds pass to Appleby, but Quadir Copeland forced him to cough the ball out of bounds, sitting on the ground and flexing after causing the turnover. Girard hit a 3 off a pass from Copeland seconds later to cut Wake Forest’s lead to one with six minutes left.

Edwards said the Orange’s comeback was “natural” with the flow of the game and that they started playing better overall. Bell added the comeback was a testament to the strength of full-court press, something they work on at every practice. 

“Effort, that’s all that it was,” Bell said. “We made a comeback and we were back in the game.”

The final five minutes were much of the same back-and-forth play throughout the night, but both teams had different options to step up. Hildreth nailed a 3-pointer before he scored inside. Edwards muscled his way into the lane for layups in between both Hildreth baskets.

Mintz also had his moments with a 3-pointer, layup and dish to Williams in the final three minutes. His pass to Williams led to a 3-pointer, which awarded a 74-72 lead to SU. But Hildreth quickly drove in inside, spun and drilled a floater over Edwards’ outstretched hand.  

“They got a little bit more penetration,” Boeheim said. “Hildreth hurt us getting into the lane a little bit.”

With 28.4 seconds left, Boeheim called a timeout. He drew up a high-low play for Edwards, but Williams couldn’t get to him inside. Instead, Girard isolated himself on the left side and stepped back for a 3-pointer. 

Girard was the hero in a one-point win over Louisville, his late 3-pointer gave SU the final advantage. But his shot barely grazed the front of the rim against Wake Forest, which delivered seconds later on the only chance it needed. 

“We’re always going to fight to the end of the horn, and we’ve done that a lot this year to come back in games,” Girard said. “We just couldn’t do it tonight.”

Published on March 8, 2023 at 2:25 pm

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