Led by Tyree Appleby’s game-high 24 points, Wake Forest (14-5, 6-2) won its 15th consecutive game at home and snapped No. 19 Clemson’s 11-game regular-season ACC win streak Tuesday night in Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, NC.
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The Demon Deacons’ 87-77 win snapped a three-game losing skid to the Tigers (15-4, 7–1) which still left the arena atop the Atlantic Coast Conference standings.
P.J. Hall's 22 points on 7-of-16 shooting led the Tigers.
Postgame Clemson basketball nuggets
Clemson led for just 29 seconds the entire evening following Brevin Galloway’s layup to begin all scoring. From there, Wake had all the momentum, highlighted by 10 second chance points and six three-pointers in the first half alone.
The Demon Deacons held a 13-9 advantage coming out of the first television timeout, led by two Appleby three-pointers. Tiger true freshman forward Chauncey Wiggins answered with a basket of his own from long range.
Hunter Tyson’s mid-range jumper with 5:13 left before intermission, his first basket of the game, pulled Clemson to within seven. The Tigers trailed by as many as 12 in the first period.
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Hall’s three-pointer with 3:57 left before the break brought the Tigers to within five points, but Andrew Carr immediately responded with a three for the Deacons which went into the break up 48-38.
Wake opened the second half by extending its lead to 53-38 within the first minute of play, a run sparked by layups from Appleby and Carr. The 15-point advantage was the Deacs’ largest lead of the game.
Galloway’s basket from long range just over five minutes in pulled Clemson to within eight, but on the next possession Damari Monsanto responded with a three.
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Clemson was in foul trouble for much of the second half and with just over 10 minutes left, Dillon Hunter was called for a reach-in foul, leaving the Tigers' two guards (Josh Beadle) with four fouls as Chase Hunter missed the entire game with a foot injury. The Tigers were again without guard Alex Hemenway (foot) as well.
Wiggins’ free throw conversion at the line under a minute later completed a four-point play and cut Wake’s lead to 65-59. It also gave the true freshman 10 points, a career-high. Wiggins entered the game having scored just 14 points all season in limited action.
With 2:07 left, a jam by Hall and conversion at the line cut the Deacs’ advantage to just 77-71. The Tigers would not come any closer the rest of the way with Wake scoring all it would need on Cameron Hildreth’s wide-open three-pointer with just over a minute-and-a-half remaining.
Wake was 9-of-26 (34.6%) from beyond the three-point line and shot 45.9-percent from the field. Carr (18), Monsanto (17) and Hildreth (17) joined Appleby in reaching double figures in scoring.
Wiggins, Tyson (19) and Galloway (16) joined Hall in reaching double figures in scoring. Tyson earned his 10th double-double of the season, totaling 14 rebounds.
Clemson shot 42.4% from the field and hit just 8-of-27 (29.6%) from beyond the three-point arc, while converting 13-of-14 (92.9%) at the line.
The Tigers’ 11 straight ACC (regular-season) wins coming in was a program record.
Clemson will return to Littlejohn Coliseum to host Virginia Tech (11-6, 1-5) on Saturday. The game is set for a 6 p.m. ET tip and will be televised by ESPN.
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