Smith, Aminu lead way as Wake Forest tops U.Va. in OT

CHARLOTTESVILLE

Ishmael Smith scored 15 points and dished out five assists to lead Wake Forest to a 64-61 overtime win over Virginia on Saturday.

Al-Farouq Aminu had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Demon Deacons (16-5, 6-3 ACC), who improved to 4-0 in overtime games this season.

"I just thought it was a hard-fought ACC game," Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio said. "We're very fortunate to win. I just thought Virginia's kids played really, really hard. I thought our kids played very hard. Coin toss; anyone could have won that basketball game."

Sylven Landesberg led Virginia (14-7, 5-3) with 28 points. Mike Scott (Deep Creek) was the only other Virginia player to score in double figures with 10 points - none in the second half.

Wake Forest, which outscored Virginia 9-6 in the overtime, moved into third place in the ACC behind Duke and Maryland.

The Demon Deacons shot 48 percent from the field, holding coach Tony Bennett's Cavaliers to 34 percent. Wake Forest outrebounded U.Va. by 12.

"I know Tony's kids are a terrific box-out team," Gaudio said. "They don't give out many second shots. Tony Woods came in and gave us some really good second shots.

"We have our shortcomings.... We're not a good free throw-shooting team, which was evident today. We're not a great shooting team.... We just find a way to make up for that. It's got to be on the backboard and it's got to be with our defense. I thought those two things were strong for us today."

The Demon Deacons didn't take their first lead until more than five minutes of the second half had elapsed. In the final minute of regulation, Wake Forest took a 55-53 lead on a layup by Smith. Virginia answered with a drive by Landesberg, which resulted in a goal-tending call.

Virginia led 34-29 at halftime.

After getting manhandled by Wake Forest two weeks ago, Bennett said he was more pleased with his team's effort this time.

"We played better," Bennett said. "I told our guys, 'Keep your head up. It's about the quality.' It was a better performance."