Wake Forest Beats Notre Dame 65-58
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Devin Thomas scored 21 points and Wake Forest beat Notre Dame 65-58 on Saturday.
Travis McKie finished with 14 points and Codi Miller-McIntyre added six of his eight in the final 2 minutes for the Demon Deacons (14-6, 4-3 Atlantic Coast Conference).
Garrick Sherman scored 20 points but the Fighting Irish (11-9, 2-5) were denied their first ACC road victory.
Sherman's free throw with 2:24 left put Notre Dame up 54-53 before Miller-McIntyre gave the Demon Deacons the lead for good with an across-the-lane drive with just under 2 minutes left.
After Pat Connaughton missed a 3-pointer, Miller-McIntyre added two free throws with 1:26 left to give Wake Forest a 57-54 lead. The sophomore guard then followed Sherman's layup with a jumper to put the Demon Deacons up 59-56 with 46.4 seconds remaining.
McKie hit four free throws in the final 27.6 seconds to help Wake Forest ice its 13th straight home win.
Coron Williams added 11 points for the Demon Deacons, who shot nearly 49 percent while reaching the 14-win mark for the first time under fourth-year coach Jeff Bzdelik.
Eric Atkins scored 13 points and Connaughton added 10 for Notre Dame, which has lost five of six after its upset of then-No. 7 Duke.
Thomas — who finished two points shy of the season high he set in the opener against Colgate — made his first 10 shots before missing a layup with about 3½ minutes left in a 53-all game.
The Demon Deacons twice led by eight in the second half, the last coming on McKie's layup with 7½ minutes left, before Notre Dame tightened things up down the stretch. Demetrius Jackson's free throw with 3:50 remaining tied it at 53, and Sherman gave the Irish their late, short-lived lead two possessions later.
That came after Wake Forest dominated the first half but only led 25-21 while failing to fully capitalize on the Irish's full-on shooting drought. Notre Dame missed nine consecutive shots and 12 of 13 during a brutal 7½-minute stretch.
But the Demon Deacons never could push their lead out of single figures, maxing it out at 25-16 with 3:41 left on a layup by Thomas.
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