Wake Forest 80, Miami (Fla.) 65
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- C.J. Harris scored 23 points and Wake Forest ended Miami's quest for an undefeated Atlantic Coast Conference record, shocking the second-ranked Hurricanes 80-65 on Saturday at Lawrence Joel Coliseum.
Miami suffered its first loss of 2013 and its 14-game winning streak came to an end in the only scheduled meeting between the teams this season. It's the most points allowed by the Hurricanes this season.
Wake Forest (12-14, 5-9 in the ACC), beginning the day in a three-way tie for ninth place, burst to a 19-point first-half lead and withstood Miami's surge early in the second half.
Miami (22-4, 13-1) trailed, 61-45, with less than eight minutes to play after Madison Jones' three-point play for the Demon Deacons, couldn't forge another comeback after last-minute escapes in its previous two games.
Wake Forest's 42-23 lead late in the first half dwindled to 42-29 at the break. The Hurricanes hadn't trailed by more than 12 points in any previous ACC game this season.
Durand Scott, who missed all four of his first-half shots, had six of his 17 points in the first six minutes of the second half as the Hurricanes closed to within 46-41. Teammate Shane Larkin finished with 13 points.
Wake Forest's Codi Miller-McIntyre added 15 points.
Miami forward Julian Gamble was charged with his fourth foul with 17:43 to play. Still, Wake Forest used two timeouts in less than four minutes to start the second half.
Miami hit three 3-point shots in the first 7 1/2 minutes to help withstand Wake Forest's initial surge.
But the Demon Deacons knocked in a couple 3-pointers, with Harris' long-range shot in transition giving Wake Forest a 24-15 edge and causing the Hurricanes to call a timeout with 7:16 to play in the half.
When Harris hit another 3-pointer on Wake Forest's next possession, the gap grew to 27-17. That was as many first-half points for the Demon Deacons as they had scored in three of their previous five games.
Harris' next 3-pointer built the margin to 30-17 and his fifth long ball made it 40-23.
Harris was 5-for-5 on 3-pointers and 0-for-3 on shots inside the arc in the first half. That matched his 3-point total from the previous four games combined.
Wake Forest, which hadn't played in a week since a one-point home loss to Georgia Tech, had won only one of its previous seven games since upsetting then-No. 18 North Carolina State.
Reserve forward Tyler Cavanaugh of Wake Forest, who didn't play in the second half a week earlier, scored seven first-half points on 3-for-3 shooting against Miami on his way to nine points.
Miami's bid for its first ACC title remains in good shape with four games remaining: at home against Virginia Tech, at Duke and home games against Georgia Tech and Clemson.
Of those, only No. 6 Duke sits in the upper half of the ACC standings.
NOTES: Trey McKinney Jones of Miami crashed to the floor with 3:49 left in the first half, limping to the locker room for further evaluation. He had eight of Miami's 21 points at the time and he was on the court for the start of the second half. ... Miami entered the game with 10 road victories, tops in the nation among teams from major conferences. ... Wake Forest is 3-1 all-time against top-five teams other than Duke or North Carolina at Lawrence Joel Coliseum. ... Miami senior Reggie Johnson scored four points in his hometown. ... The start of the game was delayed a few minutes when not all the arena lighting came back on following pregame introductions.
