NEW YORK – Never mind Wake Forest guard Justin Gray didn’t score in the first half. When the Demon Deacons really needed him, Gray did more than his fair share.

Gray finished with 18 points, including a 3-pointer with three seconds left in the first overtime, to force the second extra period Friday night in the consolation game of the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer at Madison Square Garden on Friday. Wake Forest made the shots when it mattered and went on to beat the Red Raiders, 78-73, in double overtime.

‘That was pretty big,’ Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser said. ‘Justin’s struggles have been well chronicled. He’s never met a shot he didn’t like. He is going to take it.’

Gray’s second-half resurgence came at the right time for the Demon Deacons. Wake Forest scored only six points in the first six minutes of the second half and the Red Raiders erased a seven-point halftime deficit.

The Raiders defense also forced 17 turnovers. Texas Tech took advantage of the opportunities, scoring 24 point off of turnovers.

Once the Raiders pulled even with Wake Forest, their offense held up enough to keep pressure on the Deacons. Neither team held a distinct advantage in the second half, snuffing out each other’s runs with big shots, like Texas Tech guard Jarrius Jackson’s 3-pointer that tied the game at 51 with 4:35 remaining. Jackson also hit a jumper with 3.7 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime.

‘I thought the couple of times we were down, we came back,’ Texas Tech head coach Bob Knight said. ‘We had several chances to win the game. …We had that several times, as well as they did. They were able to capitalize on their chances. In the overtime, they came back and made big plays to carry on and give them a chance. It really was a good game for whoever won and a tough one for whoever lost.’

While Gray played the late-game hero, Wake center Kyle Visser and forward Trent Strickland were the steady sidekicks. Visser and Strickland scored 16 points and pulled down 16 rebounds apiece.

Visser’s performance became even more vital for Wake Forest in the waning moments of the first half when forward Chris Ellis left the game with an ankle injury.

With 1:08 remaining in the first half, Ellis fell to the floor while attempting to grab a defensive rebound. Jackson fell on top of Ellis, and Ellis immediately held his leg in pain and motioned to the trainers. Teammates helped Ellis off the court and he did not return to the sideline the rest of the game with an ankle injury.

Friday was Wake Forest’s second overtime game this year. Prosser lamented the fact his nationally ranked team was having trouble with teams the Deacons should beat easier.

‘At this time of the year, I doubt you are going to get many aesthetically pleasing games,’ Prosser said. ‘But I thought both teams played extremely hard out there. …We were dead in the water and we hit a big shot. This is a team that’s aging me a lot.’

Published on November 17, 2005 at 12:00 pm