Mooney's 16th double-double, bench propel Irish past Deacons

John Mooney regained his double-double touch and T.J. Gibbs scored a team-high 23 points as Notre Dame held off Wake Forest in second half Wednesday for a 90-80 Atlantic Coast Conference victory. Mooney, who h 12 double-doubles in a row before Florida State held him to five rebounds in an 85-84 ACC loss Saturday, finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds after a slow start as Mike Brey's Fighting Irish (12-8, 3-6 ACC) broke a two-game losing streak and won ir first ACC game this season at Purcell Pavilion.

Reserve Nate Laszewski scored a season-high 18 points and fellow reserve Dane Goodwin 14 as Irish bench outscored Demon Deacons, 32-23. Brandon Childress, who missed Wake Forest’s overtime loss Sunday to Virginia with a leg injury, returned to score a game-high 24 points. Seven-foot center Olivier Sarr scored 18 points despite foul trouble and Isaiah Mucius ded 13 for Danny Manning’s Demon Deacons (9-11, 2-8) who lost ir third straight.

Notre Dame shot a torrid 53% in second half (17-for-32) while forging a 12-point le, 68-56, with 8:45 remaining. But Demon Deacons closed to within 77-74 with 3:35 forcing Brey to call a timeout. A 3-pointer by Laszewski and a three-point play by Gibbs helped Irish hold off Demon Deacons. Childress scored 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting in first half as Demon Deacons took a 41-36 halftime le. Coming off a 65-63 overtime loss to Virginia, Wake Forest hit eight of its first 11 shots (73%) before finishing at 53% (16 of 30).

Mooney, who entered game with 15 double-doubles, didn’t have a rebound until 9:58 remained in first half and got his first basket 19 seconds later. He finished with eight points and six rebounds to le Irish, who hit just one of ir first seven shots (14%) before finishing at 35% (12 of 34). Mooney’s 3-point play tied game at 43-43 with 17:17 to go. He h his double-double with his 10th rebound with 16:52 left before Rex Pflueger hit a 3-pointer to give Irish le, 46-45, with 16:32 remaining. Gibbs n hit three free throws to stretch Irish le to 49-45.

n with Mooney and fellow big man Juwan Durham resting, Irish stretched le to eight, 54-46, on a drive by Laszewski with 14:27 remaining. A Gibbs floater in lane me it 60-51 with 11:31 when Manning called a timeout. Notre Dame eventually grew le to 68-56 with 9:56 left on a Gibbs 3-pointer.

BIG PICTURE

Wake Forest: Demon Deacons, who entered game hitting just 42% from floor, were hot in first half but couldn’t maintain ir accuracy, hitting just four of ir first 10 shots in second half while Notre Dame took control with a 24-10 run.

Notre Dame: Fighting Irish entered game just 2-6 in ACC with five of losses coming by five points or less – two by one point, including last Saturday’s 85-84 loss at No. 5 Florida State that h Brey questioning officiating and earning school a $20,000 fine from league.

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