Wake Forest beats UNC Greensboro 81-71 for 4th straight win

By foxsports
Published

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) Wake Forest's Codi Miller-McIntyre knows it's going to take some time for him to get back to full speed from a preseason foot injury.

And coach Danny Manning wants to see more from his Demon Deacons now that they have their senior leader back.

Dinos Mitoglou scored 22 points to help Wake Forest beat UNC Greensboro 81-71 on Tuesday night, while Miller-McIntyre finished with three points and four turnovers in 15 minutes.

''It looked the way I think probably a lot of people expected - a little rusty, especially in the first half,'' Miller-McIntyre said. ''The turnovers came from not being aggressive, like just being lackadaisical with the ball. I don't believe I turned it over the second half when I played, just easing my way back into it.''

Miller-McIntyre had been the Demon Deacons' leading scorer for each of the past two seasons as well as their top playmaking guard. He was the Atlantic Coast Conference's second-leading returning scorer at 14.5 points but missed the first eight games with a broken left foot suffered in October.

He made his debut to loud cheers at the 14:57 mark of the first half, though he had a couple of turnovers - including a pass that appeared to hit the bottom of the backboard and a charge - early. But he also had some moments when he showed his typical opencourt push-the-ball ability for the Demon Deacons (7-2).

''There's still going to be an adjustment period,'' Manning said. ''He just brings an element that we don't have with his athleticism, the way he guards and the way he pushes the ball in transition.''

Wake Forest didn't look particularly sharp after a 10-day layoff for exams, prompting Manning to say his Demon Deacons ''have a lot of work that we need to do to become the team that we could potentially become.''

The game was tied at 45-all with 16 minutes left before Wake Forest used a 13-0 run to stretch out the lead to double figures and take control.

Kayel Locke matched his career high with 25 points to lead the Spartans (4-6), a team coach Wes Miller described as having to ''reinvent'' itself since leading scorer Tevon Saddler abruptly quit the team a week before the start of the season.

''It's been a tough month or so but they keep getting better,'' Miller said. ''It wasn't perfect, there's a lot we've got to work on, but I thought we really competed, so I'm really proud of my bunch.''

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TIP-INS

UNC Greensboro: Diante Baldwin had 14 points and six assists. ... UNCG shot 43 percent. ... Five Spartans finished with four fouls and two with three, but none fouled out.

Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons hadn't played since an 88-85 win against Arkansas on Dec. 4. . Greg McClinton had 11 points. ... Wake Forest shot 49 percent and made 27 of 39 free throws.

THOMAS' BIG NIGHT

Wake Forest forward Devin Thomas had 18 points and 10 rebounds while matching his career highs with five blocks and five assists. The only blemish? His 8-of-17 performance from the foul line.

''I feel like my free throws have improved a lot,'' he said. ''I'm just thinking too much, not doing my normal routines. I guess you can just say I don't perform well under bright lights I guess.''

LONG RANGE

Mitoglou did most of his damage behind the arc, making 4 of 6 - including one during the 13-0 burst - to go with a perfect 8-for-8 effort at the line. He also had six rebounds.

UP NEXT

UNC Greensboro travels to Elon on Saturday.

Wake Forest hosts Coastal Carolina on Friday.

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Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap and the AP's college basketball site at http://collegebasketball.ap.org