Hunter Sallis scored a game-high 22 points to help Wake Forest to an 81-76 win over visiting Clemson in each team’s Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season finale in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Saturday.
Andrew Carr added 17 points for the Demon Deacons (19-12, 11-9 ACC), who snapped a three-game losing streak. Efton Reid III scored 12 points, followed by Cameron Hildreth’s 11. Sallis and Hildreth chipped in seven rebounds apiece.
PJ Hall led Clemson (21-10, 11-9) with 18 points, followed by Chase Hunter’s 17. Joseph Girard III added 14 points for the Tigers, who have lost two of their last three games. Jack Clark contributed 10 points.
Wake Forest led 34-28 at halftime, but Clemson started the second half with a 19-8 run to go ahead by five on Girard’s layup at the 12:50 mark.
Hall’s three-point play gave Clemson a 52-48 lead with 10:46 left, but Wake answered with an 8-0 run, capped by Reid’s corner 3-pointer.
Minutes later, Clemson’s Josh Beadle hit a jumper to cut the Tigers’ deficit to one, but Carr’s five straight points began a Wake Forest 7-0 run to give the Demon Deacons a 67-59 lead with 5:43 left.
Sallis’ jumper with 2:01 remaining pushed Wake Forest’s advantage back to seven.
A pair of Girard free throws then cut the lead to five, and Clemson had a chance to get it to three, but Reid blocked Hunter’s layup attempt to help seal the outcome.
In the first half, Wake Forest got out to a 22-16 lead on Hildreth’s jumper at the 8:42 mark.
Clemson answered with a 7-0 run, which began with five straight points from RJ Godfrey and was stamped with Clark’s dunk.
After Clark’s 3-pointer gave Clemson a 26-24 lead with 4:45 left, the Demon Deacons finished the first half on a 10-2 run, capped by Sallis’ jumper with 20 seconds remaining.
Sallis led Wake Forest with 15 points in the first half, while Clark paced Clemson with seven.
–Field Level Media