Sports > February 28, 2008

By Ryan Durham | Senior writer

Hoping to capitalize on the positive momentum they gained from their defeat of No. 2 Duke, the Demon Deacons traveled to Chapel Hill Feb. 24 to face long time rival UNC-Chapel Hill.

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Sophomore guard Ishmael Smith drives through the Tar Heel defense in the 89-73 loss on Feb. 24. Smith played a team high 37 minutes and had eight assists against the Tar Heels. (Connor Swarbrick/Old Gold & Black)

Wake Forest appeared to be continuing this momentum for most of the first half, but the team faltered after the break, falling to the Tar Heels 89-73.

The teams battled for most of the first half.

Carolina would gain an eight to ten point lead, but the Deacons quickly would cut it back down to two or three points for the first 16 minutes of the half.

An 8-0 Tar Heel run gave the team a 10 point lead, their greatest of the half, with 2:04 left. However, a strong Deacon drive made it look like the two teams would go into the locker room only down six points.

With less than a second left, Carolina’s Wayne Ellington hit an off balance three-point shot in front of the Wake Forest bench to put the Tar Heels up nine at the break, effectively swinging the momentum heavily in their favor.

“I think a big play was right before the half when Ellington hit that three in the corner over there,” Gaudio said.

“Tough shot, give the young man credit, but we go down nine at half instead of six.”

Foul trouble hurt the Deacs in the both halves of the game.

The five starters recorded 10 fouls in the first half, including three on sophomore center Chas McFarland.

McFarland picked up his fourth foul only 48 seconds into the second half, making a minimum impact for the rest of the game.

“As well as Chas’s been playing, (the foul trouble) really affected us a lot,” sophomore L.D. Williams said.

“Chas is a really big force. For him not to be able to play in a lot of the second half really affected the game.”

The Tar Heels quickly gained a double-digit lead, which they would keep for most of the half.

Wake Forest cut the lead to eight points on multiple occasions, but were unable to create a run that would put it back in the game.

“We didn’t (get a big run), part of a big run is making free throws,” Gaudio said.

“We kept getting that shot where we were running a set, but we were killing ourselves getting a shot from the left corner in front of our bench.”

UNC, on the other hand, was able to make those shots.

The Tar Heels were 26 of 34 from the charity stripe compared to the Deacons’ 8 of 17.

Tyler Hansbrough was in large part responsible for this, shooting 78.6 percent from the line and gaining 11 of his 29 points from the same point.

Foul trouble and the Tar Heels high shooting percentage in general led to the large Deacon deficit and allowed the Tar Heels an 89-73 win.

Freshmen once again led the Deacons.

Freshmen guard Jeff Teague and forward James Johnson accounted for 40 of Wake Forest’s points.

Despite his foul troubles, McFarland was also able to get double digit points with 11 in only 22 minutes of play.

Gaudio must now prepare the Deacs for their final stretch of the regular season, which includes a home game against Maryland and back-to-back road games at Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.

“The first thing I told them after the game was we have to play with a little bit more of emotional maturity on the road,” Gaudio said.

“We worry about this call a little bit and that call a little bit. We have the best officials in the whole country, just play. That is all you have to do and we will learn.”

The Deacs are scheduled to tip-off against the Maryland Terrapins at 8 p.m. on Feb. 28.

“(We need) to win every game to make it to the NCAA tournament,” Williams said.

“We’ve got to do whatever we have to do, scratch, claw, to win these next four regular season games.”