GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - Daivien Williamson made a game-winning 3-pointer with 0.5 seconds left and Wake Forest beat Syracuse 77-74 on Wednesday for its first New York Life ACC Tournament win since 2017.
Wake Forest (19-13), the No. 9 seed, advances to play top-seeded Miami in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Williamson grabbed a long rebound off a missed jumper by Joe Girard and handed it to teammate Tyree Appleby, who dribbled up the court and drew multiple defenders at the top of the key. Williamson was left open for a long 3-pointer and Syracuse was well short on a heave at the buzzer.
“We just had to go, we knew we ain't have no timeouts,” Williamson said in a TV interview. “Tyree made a great pass, I had confidence to knock it down and I did.”
Williamson finished with four 3-pointers and 17 points and Appleby had 15 points and 12 assists for Wake Forest. Bobi Klintman secured a double-double in the first half and finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Cameron Hildreth also scored 15 points and Andrew Carr had 10 points, eight rebounds and three steals.
Wake Forest scored the opening four points of the second half to take its first lead, 37-35, since it was 6-5. Appleby and Williamson each made a 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to cap a 17-1 run for a 54-42 lead. The run came during the Deamon Deacons’ 21-7 start to the half.
Hildreth scored seven straight Wake Forest points to help build a 70-66 lead and he added a spinning shot in the lane with 36.2 seconds left to tie it at 74-all.
Benny Williams had 18 points, 11 rebounds and five steals and Judah Mintz added 18 points with seven assists for Syracuse (17-15). Jesse Edwards, who had 27 points on Saturday in a 72-63 win over Wake Forest, was held to just two points in the first half and finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Williams completed a three-point play to tie it at 60-all and he sank a 3-pointer with 59.5 seconds left for a 74-72 lead.
Second-round Game 1 Notes
#9 Wake Forest 77, #8 Wake Forest 74
- Wake Forest (19-13) advanced to Thursday’s noon quarterfinal game versus top-seed Miami (24-6). The Hurricanes won the regular season meeting between the teams on Feb. 18 in Coral Gables by a 96-87 score.
- Three of the four games in the 2023 New York Life ACC Tournament thus far have come down to the final possession. Georgia Tech edged Florida State by a point in Tuesday’s tournament opener, and Virginia Tech claimed a three-point win over Notre Dame in Tuesday’s Game 1 session finale.
- Syracuse (17-15) came out on the short end of Wednesday’s score despite rallying from 13 points down with 10:55 left to lead briefly at 74-72 on Benny Williams’ 3-pointer jumper with 59 seconds remaining. The Demon Deacons then rallied to turn the tables just four days after a 72-63 loss to the Orange in last Saturday’s regular-season finale at the JMA Wireless Dome.
- Wake Forest is now 45-65 all-time in the ACC Tournament and 18-26 in tourney games at the Greensboro Coliseum. Wednesday marked the Deacons’ first second-round tournament win in four tries.
- Syracuse slipped to 5-8 in the ACC Tournament and to 2-3 in games played in Greensboro. The Orange is now 4-4 in the second round.
- All five starters scored in double figures for the Deacons on Wednesday, led by Daivien Williamson and Bobi Klintman with 17 points each. Williams connected on the game-winning 3-pointer with 0.5 showing on the clock, and Klintman’s 17 points marked the freshman’s career high. Klintman’s 11 rebounds were one shy of matching another career high.
- Wake sophomore guard Cameron Hildreth scored nine of his 15 points in the final 5:26 on Wednesday, after the Orange had closed within 63-62. Hildreth’s clutch act included a short turnaround jumper in the lane with 36 seconds left that tied the score at 74-all and set up Williamson’s late heroics.
- After logging just eight minutes with no points and one rebound versus the Deacons on Saturday, Syracuse’s Williams delivered his third double-double of the season on Wednesday with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
- Wake Forest went 12-for-12 at the foul line. That’s the most made free throws without a miss in the Demon Deacons’ ACC Tournament history. The previous was 11-11 vs. Maryland in the 2001 quarterfinals in Atlanta. This is the fourth time in tournament history that a team has been perfect from the line with more than 12 attempts,
- The No. 8 and No. 9 seeds are now 14-14 all-time in their 28 ACC Tournament meetings.