Wake Forest pulls away late, hangs on to beat Fairfield 71-59
Wake Forest men’s basketball started their season off on the right foot Monday night, defeating Fairfield 71-59 in the 2022-23 opener. Daivien Williamson, Andrew Carr and Cameron Hildreth all finished with 14 points, and Bobi Klintman added 11 points and six rebounds off the bench. Though the Deacs won by double figures, Fairfield was no slouch.
“I knew this was going to be a really hard game,” head coach Steve Forbes said after the win. “I think they have a really good basketball team. They’re really hard to prepare for. I thought our guys did a good job of paying attention to detail and putting our game plan into action.”
It was an up and down first half for the Deacs — Carr kicked things off with a personal 5-0 run and scored the first 10 points for Wake. After that, Fairfield caught fire and controlled much of the middle portion of the half, at one point leading by five points. The offense struggled to find consistency early on, going 6/17 from the field and 2/9 from three in the opening minutes of the game. Foul trouble cost Wake dearly in the early part of the first half — several players had to take a seat early after picking up a pair of fouls.
“We didn’t get off to a great start offensively,” Forbes said. “But we didn’t let that dictate how we defended. That kept us in the game. Ty [Appleby] and Andrew [Carr] got into some foul trouble, but our bench really helped us out.”
The last five minutes of the first half, though, belonged to Wake Forest. Led by nice stretches from Hildreth and Bobi Klintman, the Deacs went on a 10-0 run to take a 32-25 lead heading into the break.
“We ended the half with seven stops in a row,” Forbes said. “That really turned the table for us heading into halftime.”
Fairfield stuck around in the second half, at one point cutting the deficit to a point before Wake eventually pulled ahead for good. Though Wake shot just 39% from the field and 27% from three, the Deacs excelled at getting to the free-throw line and taking care of the ball down the stretch.
READ: Live Updates - Wake Forest vs Fairfield
“The second half, I didn’t think we fouled as much,” Forbes said. “That really kept them off the line. We got to the line 39 times and were putting pressure on the rim. That’s a credit to our team to go 6/22 [from 3-point range] and not panic.”
As Forbes said, the victory was a team effort — four players scored in double figures and the Deacs’ bench added 29 points.
“That’s the most important thing,” Forbes said of the balanced play style. “I think we have to continue it — it’ll be different people every night. We’re not a one-man show here.”
Two of tonight's standouts were Carr and Klintman, both of whom were making their official Demon Deacon debuts. Finishing with strong performances was key in settling in and shaking off the rust.
"I was a little bit nervous in the beginning, but that's basketball," Klintman said. "My teammates were there to support me and the coaches were helping me out. It felt great."
The Deacs’ performance was far from perfect — their two top guards struggled shooting the ball and they let Fairfield keep things close for a while. That said, Forbes’ squad knows exactly what they have to work on before Georgia comes to town on Friday.
“I think that’s a credit to our team, to win a game where Ty and Daivien didn’t hit a lot of shots,” Forbes said. “That shows our depth and that we do have other guys. This is a good tape for us to learn and move on.”
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