Perrantes leads No. 11 Virginia past Wake Forest, 79-62
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Box Score Jan. 08, 2017
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) London Perrantes is a point guard first, and when that meant he was being too unselfish offensively for No. 11 Virginia, coach Tony Bennett pulled his lone scholarship senior aside and tried to shed some light on how scoring more could help the team too.
“I told London something yesterday before practice,” Bennett said after Perrantes scored 24 points in the Cavaliers’ 79-62 victory against Wake Forest “I said, ‘London, you know you’ve had three great years. You’re in a different situation this year. … This is really good for your game because you are going to have to learn to be as efficient as you can. More is being called upon for you.'”
Perrantes clearly got the message, looking for his shot early and taking a team-high 13 shots.
The Cavaliers (12-3, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) pulled away with a 10-0 second half run and put losses to No. 12 Florida State and at Pittsburgh behind them while sending the Demon Deacons to their 25th consecutive road loss in conference play.
Perrantes scored all but five of his points in the second half as Virginia (12-3, 2-2 ACC) rebounded from back-to-back losses to No. 12 Florida State and at Pittsburgh. Marial Shayok added 17 points and Devon Hall 13 for Virginia, which benefited from Perrantes’ aggression.
“He makes the game a lot easier, especially because he’s getting in the lane and if he’s got a wide open drive, people have to help and he’s able to kick it to us or get to the rim and make plays, and that’s what he does really well,” Hall said
John Collins scored 16 points and Bryant Crawford 15 for the Demon Deacons (10-6, 1-3). Wake Forest, which led 29-28 at halftime, is now 0-20 in conference road games under third-year coach Danny Manning.
“They shut down a lot of things that we were trying to get in the first half,” Manning said.
The game was tied at 46 until Hall hit a 3-pointer, sparking the 10-0 run. Jack Salt followed with a put-back dunk and converted a three-point-play, and two free throws by Hall and a floater by Perrantes finished the burst with 7:25 to play.
BIG PICTURE
Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons are young, with eight of their 13 scholarship players either freshmen or sophomores, which means they are the players Manning has brought on board to build his program. They are scrappy, and three of their five previous losses have come by seven points or less. Their continued development will be critical as Wake Forest begins looking for victories to go with its hope.
“We’re trying to accelerate experience. I guess that’s the best way to put it with the team we have,” Manning said.
Virginia: Despite a fast start to the season and high expectations based on the past few seasons, the Cavaliers are still very much a work in progress and their defensive shortcomings are coming to light against ACC opponents familiar with what they try to do. The 88 points Pittsburgh scored in a victory Wednesday night was the second-most points allowed by a Bennett-coached team in ACC play.
NOT YOU AGAIN
Virginia has beaten Wake Forest in five consecutive meetings, including a 72-71 victory last year when Darius Thompson banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer from the left side. Thompson hit back-to-back threes from a similar spot in this game, but wasn’t reminiscing.
“I completely forgot about that until you brought it up,” he said.
HE SAID IT
“The wings in our league are hard rockin’ dudes across the board.” – Manning.
UP NEXT
Wake Forest returns home to face North Carolina on Wednesday night.
Virginia is off until Saturday when it plays at Clemson.