Canes Shoot Past Wake Forest, 87-81

By Tom Symonds
HurricaneSports.com

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami men’s basketball team continued its strong play at home Wednesday night, as it defeated Wake Forest, 87-81, at the Watsco Center. 
 
The Hurricanes featured a balanced scoring attack as Lonnie Walker IV, Ja’Quan Newton, Chris Lykes, Sam Waardenburg and Dewan Huell finished with 19, 16, 13, 12 and 10 points, respectively. Waardenburg’s 12 points were a career-high. 
 
Huell also pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds to record his fifth-career double-double.
 
Miami’s 87-point output marked the 11th time this season the Hurricanes have scored 80 or more points, including the fifth time at the Watsco Center. 
 
With the win, Miami improved to 9-1 at home. The Hurricanes have now won 36 of their last 39 decisions at home.
 
The Hurricanes led for a majority of the first half (16:53) and by as many as 10 points, but the Demon Deacons fought back to trim Miami’s lead four, 35-31, heading into the locker room. 
 
Walker led the way for the Hurricanes with 11 first-half points, connecting on 4-of-6 shots from the field. As a team, Miami connected on 43.3 percent of its shots from the field.  
 
The teams continued their neck-and-neck battle coming out of the locker room, as neither team led by greater than six points for the first 13 minutes of the second half. 
 
Miami began to distance itself with under seven minutes to go in the game thanks to Waardenburg 3-pointer from the corner to give the Hurricanes an eight-point advantage, 61-53, with 6:36 left. 
 
Miami closed the game strong from beyond the arc, as it connected on 4-of-5 shots from 3-point range.
 
Wake Forest fought back to trim Miami’s lead to three with 13 seconds to go in the game, but that was as close as things would get down the stretch, as Miami iced the contest from the free-throw line.

Miami returns to action on Saturday (Feb. 10), as it heads to Boston College. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.

To keep up with the University of Miami men’s basketball team on social media, follow @CanesHoops on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.