Elliot Cadeau made a shot to force overtime and drained a tiebreaking free throw with 13 seconds left in the extra period as No. 6 Michigan beat Wake Forest 85-84 on Tuesday night in Detroit.
Nate Calmese missed a potential winning short floater for Wake Forest.
Aday Mara led Michigan (2-0) with 18 points and 13 rebounds and Cadeau had 17 points. Reserve Roddy Gayle Jr.’s 13 points and Morez Johnson Jr.’s 10 points boosted the Wolverines, who shot just 4-for-25 on 3-pointers.
Cadeau’s final free throw broke Michigan’s scoring drought of more than three minutes.
Juke Harris had a big second half and finished with 19 points for Wake Forest (2-1). Mekhi Mason had 16 points, Myles Colvin scored 13 points off the bench and Calmese had 11 points.
Cadeau made the tying basket on a drive with 36 seconds left in regulation and thwarted the next Wake Forest possession with a steal, sending the game to overtime.
Wake Forest made a push early in the second half, closing a 47-34 halftime deficit to 56-53 with Harris sparking the burst with eight points in 74 seconds.
Cooper Schwieger’s dunk with 8:45 left tied the game at 64-64, resulting in a Michigan timeout. The Demon Deacons took a lead on Calmese’s three-point play and later went up 77-70 with less than five minutes remaining before the Wolverines fought back in regulation.
Wake Forest used a 9-0 run for an early 11-7 lead. But Michigan had the final run of the first half, outscoring the Demon Deacons 18-8 across the last five minutes before the break.
Michigan had a 14-5 edge in free-throw scoring and a 24-13 rebounding edge in the first half. Fourteen of the Wolverines’ final 23 points of the half came on free throws.
This was a neutral-site game played 225 miles from the Michigan campus in Ann Arbor. It followed a similar setup with Wake Forest winning by two last November in Greensboro, N.C.
–Field Level Media
