Brandon Childress' jumper bounced around the rim and dropped with 1.2 seconds remaining to rescue Wake Forest in a 65-63 victory against visiting Columbia on Sunday afternoon in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Wake Forest scored the game's final six points, aided by offensive rebounding that gave it some second chances.
Chaundee Brown poured in 20 points to go with nine rebounds for the Demon Deacons (1-1). Childress finished with 11 points.
Mike Smith posted 23 points for Columbia (0-2).
Smith scored eight straight points to put Columbia ahead 63-59 with 50 seconds left.
Brown converted a three-point play before a Columbia turnover. Childress missed a jumper, but Brown chased down the rebound and then the Demon Deacons called timeout at the 22.9-second mark.
Brown was fouled, making the first of two free-throw attempts with 17.1 to go. Wake Forest ended up with possession when the ball went out of bounds after Brown's missed foul shot, setting up the winning basket.
Columbia, which was coming off a two-point loss (by the same score) at Lafayette, held a 39-34 lead early in the second half.
Wake Forest scored 14 of the game's next 17 points for a 48-42 lead with 7:30 remaining.
Transfer Andrien White's first 3-pointer in a Wake Forest uniform stretched the margin to 51-44.
Smith's jumper at the 4:04 mark put the Lions ahead 53-52.
With a 55-55 score, a four-point possession boosted the Demon Deacons. Childress scored and was fouled, but the Demon Deacons collected the offensive rebound off his missed free throw and Olivier Sarr ended up converting on two free throws.
Wake Forest led 26-25 at halftime despite making only 9 of 29 shots from the field through 20 minutes.
Early on, the teams combined to miss 14 consecutive shots. Wake Forest began the game by going 1-for-15 from the field while falling into an 11-3 hole.
--Field Level Media
Columbia | Wake Forest | |
Mike Smith 23 | Scoring | Chaundee Brown 20 |
Mike Smith 7 | Assists | Jahcobi Neath 3 |
Jake Killingsworth 10 | Rebounds | Chaundee Brown 9 |
Mike Smith 6 | Free Throws Made | Chaundee Brown 8 |
Cameron Shockley-Okeke 3 | Steals | Brandon Childress 1 |
Randy Brumant 4 | Blocks | Ody Oguama 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Columbia | 63 | 39.7 | 6-26 | 7-9 | 10 | 38 | 5 | 8 | 12 |
Wake Forest | 65 | 35.5 | 2-10 | 19-29 | 8 | 44 | 1 | 3 | 13 |