Wake Forest finally found that sense of urgency just in time on Saturday afternoon against Notre Dame.
Better late than never.
The Demon Deacons caught fire with about five minutes to go and it was Cam Hildreth making the big plays in a 74-71 win in at Joel Coliseum.
The Demon Deacons improved to 20-9 overall and 12-6 in the ACC. The Irish fell to 12-17 and 6-12.
Coach Steve Forbes has won 20 games or more for the third time in his five seasons in Winston-Salem.
The Demon Deacons had lost three of their last four and two straight at home but the bleeding is at least stopped as they try to somehow do enough to get to the NCAA Tournament.
Forbes is now 91-62 in his five seasons at Wake Forest.
Hildreth's short jumper with 1:37 left gave the Demon Deacons a 69-66 lead. Their next trip down the court Hildreth was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws for a 72-68 lead with 53.7 seconds left.
With 2:44 left Hildreth scored on a left-handed layup and was fouled. He converted the free throw for a 65-62 lead, which was the biggest of the game for the Demon Deacons.
With 4:03 left Hunter Sallis scored on a short jumper after an offensive rebound to make it 62-61 in favor of the Demon Deacons.
The Demon Deacons battled back to tie the game at 60 when Juke Harris hit a corner 3-pointer with 4:40 left in the game.
With less than 12 minutes to go the Irish led 47-40 after it continued to get to the basket against the Demon Deacons' defense. Up to that point 22 of the Irish's 47 points were on the inside.
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The Demon Deacons started out 3 for 14 shooting and fell behind 18-10 with under nine minutes to go. Sallis wound up missing his first five shots during the early struggles.
The Demon Deacons eventually fell behind 20-10 with 7:43 to go and Forbes called a timeout.
A little later Sallis finally got going with a dunk that helped bring the Demon Deacons back. The Demon Deacons took a 23-22 lead thanks to a Hildreth 3-pointer.
At halftime the Demon Deacons trailed 35-30.
Wake Forest will hit the road on Monday and play at second-ranked Duke at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
After that game, Wake Forest will close its regular season next Saturday at 2:15 p.m. at Joel Coliseum against Georgia Tech.
Hall of Famers recognized
At halftime Wake Forest recognized its most recent Hall of Fame members.
This year's class was inducted on Friday night.
The class included the late Skip Prosser, women's soccer icons Katie Stengel and Aubrey Bledsoe, 2007 NCAA National champion Ike Opara, fullback Ovie Mughelli, 2023 Trailblazer Award recipient Keeva Jackson-Breland and renowned golf course de-signer Bill Coore.
NIT champs from 2000 honored
Also recognized during a TV timeout was Coach Dave Odom's 2000 NIT championship team.
Odom, along with several team members and support staff, were also on hand. Among the players were Josh Howard, Josh Shoe-maker and Rafael Vidaurreta.
jdell@wsjournal.com
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@johndellWSJ
Saturday's ACC Scores
Va. Tech 101, Syracuse 95 (OT)
North Carolina 92, Miami 73
Clemson 71, Virginia 58
Ga. Tech 87, NC State 62
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