NCAA Game Summary - Manhattan vs. Wake Forest
03.20.2004
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Raleigh, NC (Basketball News) - Chris Paul scored 29 points to help Wake Forest hold on for an 84-80 win over Manhattan in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the RBC Center.
Wake Forest, the fourth seed in the East Rutherford bracket, won a second round game for the first time since its 1996 team was led by Tim Duncan. The Demon Deacons (21-9) now move on to face the winner of Saint Joseph’s/Texas Tech on Thursday at the Meadowlands.
Vytas Danelius and Jamaal Levy each chipped in 12 points for Wake Forest, which barely advanced to the second round after escaping with a 79-78 win over Virginia Commonwealth in its previous contest. The Demon Deacons had failed to advance past the second round in each of the last three years.
Luis Flores led Manhattan (25-6) with 20 points in the losing effort. Dave Holmes added 19 points and eight rebounds for the 12th-seeded Jaspers, who easily upended Florida in the first round.
The MAAC champion Jaspers trailed by 13 at the break before coming out strong in the second half. They started the period with a 16-5 run, capped by a three-pointer by Peter Mulligan, to close within 53-51 with 14:19 remaining.
The Demon Deacons, though, never did relinquish the lead, responding to everything that Manhattan could throw at them.
Manhattan pulled as close as two after Wake’s Justin Gray missed a pair from the line while Holmes hit two free throws on the other end with 44 seconds left in the game. The Demon Deacons, though, broke the Manhattan press and Trent Strickland threw down a dunk with seconds remaining to close out the victory.
The Demon Deacons pushed their lead to eight at 70-62 after a layup by Paul with around nine minutes to play. The resilient Jaspers then answered immediately with seven straight points to keep the game close down the stretch.
Manhattan held its own on the boards throughout the contest despite being outrebounded by a 37-32 margin. But Wake Forest’s 51 percent shooting for the game just proved to be too much.
Two early fouls on Wake big man Eric Williams quickly negated the Demon Deacons’ size advantage down low. That allowed Manhattan to hang around until Danelius came off the bench to hit three shots from behind the arc before Paul just took over.
The speedy freshman point guard had 16 points in the first half while helping the Demon Deacons to a 48-35 advantage at the break. Paul, who scored his team’s final five points of the half, converted his only three-point attempt and went 6-for-7 from the field in the opening 20 minutes. Flores led the Jaspers with 13 points.
