LaRavia, Walton lead Wake Forest to 99-77 rout of Louisville

Feb 27, 2022, 02:45 am

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- — Jake LaRavia scored 23 points, Dallas Walton scored 22 and all five Wake Forest starters reached double figures in a 99-77 victory over Louisville on Saturday night.

Wake Forest rolled through the second half, turning an eight-point halftime lead into a 95-64 advantage after LaRavia scored with 3:40 remaining. At that point, Wake Forest had made 72% of its shots in the second half. Soon after that the Demon Deacons emptied the bench.

Daivien Williamson scored 15 points, Isaiah Mucius 12 and Alondes Williams 11 for Wake Forest (22-8, 12-7 ACC). LaRavia had seven rebounds, five assists and made 13 of 14 free throws. Walton was 8 of 9 from the field, including 4 for 4 from 3-point distance.

Sydney Curry led Louisville (12-16, 6-12) with 28 points. He made 13 of 18 shots and had seven rebounds off the bench. Noah Locke added 14 points.

Wake Forest broke out to a 22-5 lead in the first eight minutes of the first half. The Demon Deacons made 4 of 5 3-pointers in that run and 9 of 12 overall while Louisville made just 2 of 10 shots.

Louisville recovered and trailed 44-36 at halftime. The Cardinals finished the half at 52% from the field despite making only 2 of 10 3-pointers. Wake Forest finished the half at 52% overall with 6 of 13 3-pointers.

For the game, Wake Forest shot 58%, made 13 of 27 3-pointers and went 22 for 27 from the free-throw line.

With one regular season game remaining — vs. NC State on Wednesday — Wake Forest trails fourth-place Miami (12-6) by half a game in the ACC standings. Miami plays at Boston College on Wednesday and at Syracuse on Saturday.

Louisville plays at Virginia Tech and Tuesday and hosts Virginia on Saturday.

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