LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) - Danny Manning had issues with the way his team defended down the stretch and rebounded in a loss to Drake on Friday at the Paradise Jam.
He had no such complaints after the Demon Deacons opened a 22-point lead by halftime and beat Quinnipiac 72-55 on Saturday.
“Our guys came out with really good attention to detail,” Manning said. “It’s a short turn around for us, just like for them. Our guys locked into the scouting report and did a good job. I really like the energy and the guys who came in off the bench were rebounding the ball well and putting in some really good minutes.”
Bryant Crawford scored 17 points, Chaundee Brown had 16 and Wake Forest (1-3) used a 20-8 run to end the first half to take command. Their 44-22 lead at intermission was never threatened and they ended their three-game losing streak.
Wake Forest led by as many as 26 and let the Bobcats (1-3) get no closer than 13 over the final 20 minutes.
“Their bench outscored us, but I thought as far as rebounding the ball and attention to detail, our bench was a great lift for us,” Manning said.
Chaise Daniels scored 12 points and Abdulai Bundu had 11 for the Bobcats (1-3), who never led a day after seeing a near-upset of Colorado squandered by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Quinnipiac shot just 28.8 percent (15 of 52) and was outrebounded 42-35. They also were outscored 28-6 in the paint.
Quinnipiac coach Baker Dunleavy said credit for the paltry numbers goes mostly to the Demon Deacons.
“I think we came ready to play with a good focus. You’re just playing against a really good team,” he said. “They’ve had some bad breaks so far this year. It was probably going to be one of those things where they were either frustrated or they were going to come in here and rally. You have to get credit to them.”
The tournament was moved from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Liberty’s Vines Center in Lynchburg because of hurricane damage.
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