Deacs squeak past Gophers in barnburner
By Jordan Webster
Sports Editor

Senior guard Broderick Hicks hit only one shot from the field in the Deacons’ Nov. 27 matchup with Big Ten opponent Minnesota, but he made it count.

Hicks drilled a three-pointer from the baseline to give his team an 80-79 lead with 58 seconds left in regulation, and the Demon Deacons held on to knock off the Gophers, 85-79, in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. In the three-year history of the tournament, the Deacons are one of only two teams to retain perfect 3-0 records, joining defending national champion Duke. The top-ranked Blue Devils cruised past No. 7 Iowa, 80-62 on Nov. 27. (Michigan State remains 2-0, following the postponement of their Nov. 28 game against Virginia).

Hicks’ three was the pivotal play in an 11-0 Deacon run to close the game. With 1:38 remaining, Travarus Bennett put the Gophers ahead by five at 79-74 by knocking down both ends of a one-and-one, but it was the last time Minnesota would dent the scoreboard.

On the Deacons’ next possession, senior forward Darius Songaila lofted what probably was an ill-advised three-pointer and missed badly, but senior forward Antwan Scott cleaned up the rebound, scored on a soft jump hook, and was fouled. Scott would drain the free throw to complete the three-point play to pull the Deacs within two at 79-77.
Minnesota had a chance to push its lead back to five when leading scorer Michael Bauer found himself with an open three from the corner several seconds later, but the attempt was off-line, and the ball deflected off a Gopher and out of bounds, setting the stage for Hicks’ heroics.

“I saw him wide open in the corner,” junior forward Josh Howard, whose pass over the Gopher defense found Hicks for the open look, said of the play. “I have confidence in my teammates, and he stepped up and drilled the shot.”

Despite hitting only five of his 14 field-goal attempts, Songaila led all scorers with 23 points, including a perfect 13-of-13 from the foul line. Howard added 21 points and nine rebounds, and Scott chipped in with 19 points and eight boards.

The game was the sixth in 16 days for the Demon Deacons, who improved to 5-1 with the victory. The team spent its Thanksgiving holiday in New York City, where it claimed the runner-up spot in the Preseason NIT. The Deacons rallied to knock off No. 23 Fresno State, 62-61, on a Songaila tip-in with less than two seconds left on Nov. 21 to advance to the championship of the tournament against Syracuse. The 18th-ranked Orangemen grabbed the tournament title, using full-court pressure to initiate a 14-0 run in the middle of the second half to come from behind to defeat the Demon Deacons.
The frenetic early-season schedule has left the Deacons fatigued, according to Head Coach Skip Prosser, who anxiously eyes the full week of practice he has to prepare his team for No. 8 Kansas. The Deacs will travel to Lawrence, Kan., to battle the Jayhawks Dec. 4 at Allen Fieldhouse.

“We’ve had six games in 16 days, and five teams of the six I believe will play in the postseason,” Prosser said. “I think mentally and physically now we’re a little beat up.
“One of the negatives about playing so many games in the Preseason NIT is that we didn’t have a lot of practice time. The last two days we didn’t go very long in practice and the practices were not extremely grueling, because I felt we were fatigued and we wanted to have some legs for tonight.