Cameron Hildreth scored 28 points and Hunter Sallis added 13 of his 17 in the second half as Wake Forest eked out a 74-71 victory over Atlantic Coast Conference opponent Notre Dame in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Saturday.
The Demon Deacons trailed for most of the second half, but Sallis’ jumper put them ahead 62-61 with 4:03 left. He entered with a team-leading 18.6 points per game, but was 5-of-17 from the floor and 0-for-3 on 3-point attempts.
Wake Forest (20-9, 12-6) began the day clinging to shaky NCAA Tournament hopes despite losing three of its previous four games and also knowing it must contend with No. 2 Duke on Monday.
Notre Dame stayed within three points after surrendering the lead and was within a point with 1:20 left. Then Hildreth was fouled on a 3-point attempt and sank all three free throws with just under a minute left to push Wake Forest’s lead to 72-68.
J.R. Konieczny split two free throws, and Markus Burton hit two from the line with 13 seconds left to trim the deficit back to one. The Fighting Irish immediately fouled Sallis, who hit both free throws for a 74-71 lead with 13.3 seconds left.
With a last chance, Notre Dame came out of a timeout with 10 seconds left and missed three attempts for the tying basket.
Burton scored 29 points to carry Notre Dame (12-17, 6-12), which missed eight of its last nine shots from the field. The Fighting Irish, who are scrambling to make sure they can qualify for the ACC tournament, had made 12 of 14 prior to that slump.
Tae Davis added 15 points and seven rebounds for Notre Dame.
Notre Dame led 30-25 at the break, outshooting Wake Forest 45.8 percent to 33.3 percent.
Wake Forest made only three of its first 15 shots and trailed 13-6 with 11:19 left in the first half. The Irish extended their lead to 20-10 thanks to four straight points from Davis.
The Demon Deacons then erupted for 10 straight points, capped by buckets from Sallis after steals by Ty-Laur Johnson and Hildreth, the latter with 5:01 left.
Burton and Hildreth led their teams with 11 and 10 points in the half.
–Field Level Media
