Juke Harris scored 20 points after his Wake Forest teammates were responsible for building a nice lead, and the Demon Deacons won their third game in a row by beating Clemson 85-77 on Wednesday night in Winston-Salem, N.C.
It was another blow for Clemson (20-7, 10-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), which appeared to be an ACC contender a week ago but lost its third straight game.
Sebastian Akins poured in 16 points, Myles Colvin provided 14 points, Mekhi Mason scored 13 points off the bench and Tre’Von Spillers notched 10 points for Wake Forest (14-12, 5-8), which shot 54.9% from the field.
Jake Wahlin’s 17 points paced Clemson, while Carter Welling and Ace Buckner each finished with 13 points.
The Tigers’ 8-for-26 shooting (30.8%) on 3-point attempts was a hindrance, though Clemson was desperate to try to catch up after falling into an early hole. The visitors’ reserves accounted for 29 points.
Down by 13 points at halftime, Clemson began the second half on a 9-1 run to close within 46-41 with 16:25 to go. The Demon Deacons regained control and later their lead was 70-56 when Akins sank a pair of free throws at the 5:07 mark.
The Tigers narrowed the gap to 70-62 on a Buckner jumper with 3:49 remaining before Wake Forest extended a possession with two offensive rebounds, eventually getting one made free throw from Spillers.
Buckner drove for a Clemson basket before Akins answered with a 3-pointer to stretch the gap to 75-66 with 2:02 left, it was largely a matter of Wake Forest making enough free throws the rest of the way.
The Demon Deacons led 45-32 at halftime, torching Clemson with 66.7% shooting from the field that included six 3-point baskets on 12 attempts. The Tigers, who trailed by 20 before scoring the last seven points of the half, were 3-for-10 from deep at the break.
Wake Forest was up 22-8 before Harris, one of the ACC’s leading scorers, produced a point.
