WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP)—With Wake Forest’s top big man in foul trouble, Justin Gray told his teammates he’d take care of everything.
“You can hop on my back,” Gray said. “I’m going to carry you.”
Did he ever.
The senior scored a career-high 37 points, including six free throws in the final 28 seconds, to lead No. 22 Wake Forest past Wisconsin 91-88 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Tuesday night.
Kyle Visser added all of his 13 points and five assists after halftime for the Demon Deacons (6-1), who led by 10 in the second half but had to hold on for their 21st straight home win. Wake Forest has won 51 of 52 home games against non-conference opponents, and improved to 3-0 against the Badgers (4-1) in the seventh annual event.
Gray’s 37 points tied the event record set by Clemson’s Will Solomon against Penn State in 1999. It surpassed his previous high of 31 points, set twice, and tied the Joel Coliseum record set by Virginia’s Bryant Stith in 1990 and matched by Florida State’s Ron Hale in 2000.
“I just wanted to have great energy,” Gray said. “I think I play better when I’m emotional, yelling at the crowd and getting the fans into the game. I think anybody plays better when they do that. I felt like the team fell right into it.”
The Demon Deacons needed every one of his points to beat the Badgers, who kept fighting to cut a late nine-point deficit to 89-88 on Kammron Taylor’s 3-pointer with 5 seconds to go. Gray then made his final two free throws, and Taylor missed a long 3 at the buzzer that would have tied it.
Alando Tucker scored 23 of his 27 points after halftime to lead the Badgers, while Brian Butch added 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Gray was unstoppable all night, hitting 11 of 20 shots and knocking down all 13 free throws in 37 minutes. At least three Badgers tried guarding him, but Gray kept getting free off screens and driving past defenders for floaters that found the bottom of the net.
“He went left, he went right, he pulled up, he hit some 3s,” Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. “He got his points in different ways.”
Gray had struggled in stints at point guard as Wake Forest tried to replace All-American Chris Paul, committing too many turnovers and at times sacrificing too many of his own shots for a team that relies on his offense. But with coach Skip Prosser playing freshman Harvey Hale more recently at the point, Gray displayed the shooting form that made him a two-time all-ACC performer as an off guard.
“He has been maligned a bit,” Prosser said. “He’s a big-time player. He certainly made shots when he had to make shots, especially his free throws.”
Gray got plenty of help from Visser, a 6-foot-11 junior who turned in a strong second half. That was important because Eric Williams, a 6-9 senior, picked up his fourth foul soon after the break. Williams—whistled for his fourth on a double-technical after getting tangled in the lane with Michael Flowers with 17:47 left—finished with 17 points.
Tucker scored only four points and sustained an unspecified nose injury in the first half. He came out of the break wearing a protective mask, but soon took it off and showed no ill effects in leading the Badgers back in a physical game that came down to the final play.
Wisconsin fought back to take a 62-60 lead on a pair of free throws by Jason Chappell with 9:21 left. Williams answered with a turnaround shot to tie it, and combined with Visser to score the team’s next 11 points.
After hitting two free throws, Visser put the Demon Deacons ahead to stay, scoring on a reverse-layup putback of Gray’s miss and making a layup off a feed from Gray on consecutive possessions for a 68-64 lead with 7:52 left.
The Demon Deacons increased the margin to 79-70 on free throws from Trent Strickland with 3:54 left and appeared to have the game in hand. But the Badgers kept pushing the ball upcourt and scoring at the other end, clawing to 83-80 on a score from Tucker with 41.5 seconds left.
The Demon Deacons went 8-for-8 at the line in the final 28 seconds to seal it, with Gray hitting six of those. At the other end, the Badgers got a double-pump 3-pointer from Tucker and a long 3 from Taylor to close to within a point with 5 seconds left.
After Gray’s final two free throws, Taylor’s long 3 at the horn bounced off the rim.
“They got off to a quick start, and we were playing from behind the whole game,” Butch said. “We made a couple of comebacks to get back in it, but it’s frustrating because we were in the game.”
