Wake Forest keeps Detroit Mercy at arm's length for win

Hunter Sallis poured in 31 points and Wake Forest needed most of those in a 67-57 home victory against Detroit Mercy on Saturday at Winston-Salem, N.C.

Davin Cosby had 11 points as the Demon Deacons (6-1) won their second straight since their only loss, which came a week earlier at Xavier.

But it wasn't easy as the visiting Titans (3-3) were persistent as they trimmed a 19-point deficit to nine points with plenty of time remaining (5:54).

Orlando Lovejoy led the Titans with 15 points and TJ Nadeau had 13 points and nine rebounds off the Detroit Mercy bench despite shooting 1-for-8 on 3-pointers. Jared Lary added 10 points.

Wake Forest doubled up the Titans in 3-point production by making 10 compared to Detroit Mercy's five.

But the Demon Deacons took more than half of their attempts (61) from beyond the 3-point arc (35). As a result, they were just 9-for-13 on free throws.

The Titans also held a 48-31 advantage in rebounding. Some of that might have been attributed to the absence of Wake Forest center Efton Reid III, who has been dealing with migraines.

Detroit Mercy trailed 36-23 at halftime, but Wake Forest couldn't put the Titans away.

Sallis shot 12-for-18 from the field and made five 3-point shots. He ended up two points shy of his career-high mark.

Sallis came through with clutch shots, including a 3-pointer to go up by 12 with 4:59 left.

Cosby had three 3-pointers before hitting his lone 2-point basket with 3:33 left to push the lead back to 14.

The Titans shot only 5-for-19 on 3-pointers and they checked in at 33.3 percent overall from the field.

Detroit Mercy was charged with 14 turnovers compared to only five for Wake Forest.

Detroit Mercy was coming off Wednesday night's victory at Ball State. That outcome marked the team's first true road triumph since February 2023, but the Titans couldn't duplicate it.

--Field Level Media