Lithuanians Save the Day

Darius Songaila, a senior, and Vytas Danelius, a freshman, are from Lithuania, but Wake Forest Coach Skip Prosser knows where he would be without them.

“On a bus to the airport,” Prosser said.

Songaila had 18 points and five rebounds in 32 minutes against Pepperdine and Danelius came off the bench to pull down eight rebounds in 21 minutes.

Listed at 6 feet 9 and 248 pounds, Songaila doesn’t look that big, but he plays a power game under the hoop and defends the other team’s center.

“Let’s just say I feel very confident when the basketball is in Songaila’s hands,” Prosser said.

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It was the first NCAA tournament victory for Wake Forest since 1997, when Tim Duncan led the Demon Deacons.

Craig Dawson, a senior, didn’t get to play in the NCAA tournament last year, so he made his tournament debut against Pepperdine.

“Sitting on the sidelines, with an injury, not being able to play [and then] as soon as I saw our name go on the board last Sunday, it was very gratifying just knowing that I was going to be able to play in my first NCAA tournament.

“When I got there, all the emotions that I expected to have came immediately. It was just a great feeling to get a win.”

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Guard Broderick Hicks said the scouting report on Pepperdine was correct.

“All week long, the coaches stressed keeping them in front when we are on defense and when we are on offense to be patient, not take the first shot you see, just make the extra pass,” he said. “We knew they weren’t a patient team, they’re a good team, but they have a lot of athletes, a lot of scorers, and if we stayed patient, maybe we could get them nervous or out of their game. So we owe that to our coaches. They did a great job in preparing us.”

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Prosser probably had the best analysis of the game:

“We got off to a good start, a less-than-scintillating middle and a very, very satisfying finish.”