Hildreth, Sallis lead Wake Forest to 74-71 come-from-behind win over Notre Dame

By Canadian Press on March 1, 2025.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Cameron Hildreth scored 28 points, Hunter Sallis added 17, and Wake Forest slipped past Notre Dame 74-71 on Saturday night, despite trailing for most of the game.

There were only five ties and four lead changes in the game and Wake Forest led for only 6:43.

A 3-pointer by Juke Harris lifted Wake Forest into a 60-60 tie with five minutes remaining in the game and a minute later Hildreth converted a three-point play for the Demon Deacons’ first lead — 65-62 — since four minutes remained in the first half.

In the final minute, Hildreth’s three-point trip to the free-throw line gave the Demon Deacons a 72-68 lead. J.R. Konieczny made 1 of 2 free throws for Notre Dame and after a missed shot by Wake Forest, the score was 72-69 with 16 seconds left. Markus Burton made two from the line for Notre Dame and Sallis in turn made two for Wake Forest.

Leading 74-71 with 12 seconds left, Wake Forest opted to play defense rather than foul and the Irish, helped by a couple of offensive rebounds, missed three 3-pointers on their final possession.

The Demon Deacons (20-9, 12-6 ACC) made all 19 of their free-throw attempts, with Hildreth and Sallis making seven each.

Burton, the ACC scoring leader by a fraction over Duke’s Cooper Flagg at 21.8 ppg, scored 29 points for Notre Dame (12-17, 6-12). Tae Davis had 15 points and Kebba Njie added 10.

The Fighting Irish were up 20-10 a little more than 12 minutes into the first half before Wake Forest tied it with a 10-0 run. Notre Dame bounced back to lead 30-25 at halftime.

Wake Forest visits Duke on Monday and Notre Dame hosts Stanford on Wednesday.

___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

The Associated Press

13
-12