ENTERPRISE SPORTS WRITER

WINSTON-SALEM – Senior guard Ishmael Smith came through like a veteran when it mattered most Tuesday night.

After calmly dribbling off clock near midcourt in the closing ticks of overtime, Smith then drove into the lane and canned a floater with 18 seconds that proved to be the game winner as Wake Forest edged Maryland 85-83 at Joel Coliseum.

Maryland took a crack at the basket in the last 10 seconds but came up short when Greivis Vasquez and Sean Mosley missed as Wake improved to 12-3 and 2-1 in the ACC. Maryland drops to 10-5, 1-1.

Overtime was forced when Al-Farouq Aminu hit two of three free throws with 29.3 seconds left to play, and Maryland was unable to convert with time running out.

Vasquez gave the Terps their final lead at 78-76 by hitting the first basket of the overtime. Aminu hit two free throws to tie it. Ari Stewart then converted consecutive jumpers (his only buckets of the game) to put Wake up 82-78. Maryland fought back, forcing an 83-83 tie when Jordan Williams tipped in a Vasquez miss with 50 seconds left.

Aminu led the Deacs with 24 points and 13 rebounds. C.J. Harris had 18 and

Smith 16 after hitting 8 of 23 attempts.

Vasquez led Maryland with 30. Williams had 12, Landon Milborne 11 and Adrian Bowie 10.

Wake led by as many as eight in the second half, at 58-50 with 11:52 left to play, on the strength of its big men.

Chas McFarland, who started the second half after being out of the lineup at the beginning of the game, scored six of Wake’s first eight points after intermission.

Tony Woods’ dunk, a layup by Ish Smith and a layup by Aminu off a deflection completed the burst. Maryland slowly whittled the margin, finally tying the score at 68 on a 3-pointer by Vasqez with 2:55 left in regulation and then going ahead for the first time in the half on Landon Milborne’s trey with 2:10 to go in regulation.

Despite a slow start, Wake carved out a 42-39 lead at the half. Hitting just 6 of their first 17 shots while also being careless with the ball, the Deacons trailed 23-15 with 8:27 left in the first half – at the end of a five-minute stretch in which they scored four points.

Wake then caught fire, going on a 15-4 run that began with consecutive 3-point plays by Gary Clark and Aminu. Sophomore forward Aminu capped the burst with a 3-pointer and an alley-oop dunk off a feed from Ish Smith. The Deacons hit 6 of 10 shots during the streak.

Wake’s lead grew to as many as five on two occasions thanks to a bucket and consecutive treys by freshman guard C.J. Harris. Harris finished the half with 13 points.

gsmith@hpe.com | 888-3519