Hildreth Leads Deacs in Second Straight Road Win

MIAMI, Fla. – Taking charge of a second half that featured highly efficient scoring, Wake Forest men's basketball upped its ongoing win streak to three games on Saturday (Jan. 11) at Miami. The Demon Deacons (12-4, 4-1 ACC) downed the host Hurricanes (4-12, 0-5 ACC) in an 88-78 finish. The win was the first for the program inside the Watsco Center within the Steve Forbes era.

Cameron Hildreth was hot from the start, swishing in a career-high six three pointers en route to 31 points, leading all individuals. It was the second performance of 30-plus points in his career. The Worthing, England native finished 11-of-16 from the floor (68.8 percent) in 38 minutes played.

Hunter Sallis took the momentum in the final 20 minutes – scoring 15 of his 22 points. The senior guard has now plugged in 20 or more points in each of his last five showings. He additionally added four rebounds and three assists to his line on Saturday.

Tre'Von Spillers was active around the rim, tallying 17 points and grabbing five rebounds. The senior forward made eight of his 11 looks, as his point total was a personal best in conference play this season.

Efton Reid III added 10 points, five rebounds and two blocks. Ty-Laur Johnson dished out a season-high six assists while collecting three steals.

Wake Forest recorded its second-best shooting performance of the season, going 35-of-64 (54.7 percent) from the field. In the second half alone, the Deacs shot 70 percent from the field, connecting on 21-of-30 shots in the period.

How It Happened

Hildreth sank a corner three to get the Deacs going in the first 30 seconds with the 3-0 lead.
- A steal from Johnson two players later led to a bucket from Spillers to tie it at five.
On the next offensive trip, Hildreth found Reid inside for a quick bucket at the 7-5 lead.
Spillers knocked in a putback ahead of the first media to keep the Wake lead.
- Out of the timeout, Sallis took it to the rim for the 11-8 lead.
Spillers took it to the rim on the next possession and converted the and-one for the three-point lead.
- Two free throws from Sallis extended the lead, 16-11.
Harris took it to the paint for his first bucket to end a short Miami run.
Spillers drove it in for a basket to tie it at 20 and force a Miami timeout with nine minutes to go in the half.
- The Wake Forest defense held Miami without a field goal for over three minutes of game time.
Hildreth hit another corner three to take the 23-21 lead.
- On the next possession Hildreth hit another one for the 26-24 lead.
Reid bullied his way to the rim to keep Wake in front, 28-24.
- Two free throws from Hildreth kept the lead at four.
A pull-up three from Sallis extended Wake's lead to five, 34-29.
Another three from Hildreth kept the Deacs up, 37-31, and the defense held Miami scoreless for over four minutes of game time.
Hildreth took it to the basket on the last play of the half to help Wake go into halftime with the 39-31 lead.
- Hildreth led all scorers with 16 first half points on 5-of-9 shooting and 4-of-5 from beyond the arc.
- Spillers led the Deacs with four rebounds in the first 20 minutes.
- The Demon Deacon defense held Miami scoreless for the final 4:32 of the half.
Reid backed his way into the lane for the first Wake basket of the second half to keep the eight-point lead.
Hildreth hit his fifth three of the game to extend the lead to 11.
- On the next offensive possession, Hildreth drove the baseline and converted the and-one to keep the double-digit lead.
- Hildreth made it eight points in a row with a jumper in the paint for the 12-point lead.
Sallis hit a fadeaway jumper out of the timeout to keep the lead at 10, 51-41.
- Johnson hit his first three on the next possession for the largest Wake lead of the game at 13 points.
A floater from Hildreth off a BLOB maintained Wake's 13-point lead with 13 minutes to play.
- Reid forced his way to the rim two plays later to keep the Deacs in front.
Hildreth's sixth three-pointer extended Wake's lead to 14 with 10:50 to play.
Spillers made a putback to make it 63-50 Wake Forest.
- On the next possession Spillers drove the baseline for the bucket to keep the lead.
Two possessions later Sallis took it to the rim to maintain the 13-point lead, 67-54.
- The next play was a Reid bucket to keep the lead.
Out of the timeout Spillers took it to the rim to keep the double-digit lead.
- A driving bucket from Johnson on the next play maintained the 10-point lead, 73-63, with just over five minutes left to play.
A fadeaway jumper from Salli kept the lead at 10.
- Another one from Sallis kept the nine-point lead after a short-lived Miami offensive swing.
Two free throws from Sallis put him at 17 points for the game with 3:14 to go and kept the nine-point lead for Wake.
Sallis capitalized on an and-one to extend the lead to 11 with two minutes to go.
- Another one from Sallis on the next possession maintained the 11-point lead.
The next trip down the floor was a Johnson-to-Spillers alley-oop for the 13-point lead.
Hildreth took it to the basket with under 30 seconds to go.
Wake Forest defeated Miami, 88-78.

Stats of the Game

The Deacs dominated in the paint on Saturday, outscoring the Hurricanes 50-20, with the 50 points marked a season-high.
Cameron Hildreth notched a new career-best mark in three-pointers made, ending with six versus the Hurricanes.
Four Deacs reached double figures in points:
- Cameron Hildreth – 31 points
- Hunter Sallis – 22 points
- Tre'Von Spillers – 17 points
- Efton Reid III – 10 points

Key Moment

After Miami made a pair of free throws to cut the lead down to 49-41 with 15:29 to play, Hunter Sallis and Ty-Laur Johnson netted a three-pointer apiece, followed by a Cameron Hildreth jumper to start an 8-2 run and stretch the lead to 56-43.

Coach's Comments
"We had good ball movement and we had a couple of guys who made really good plays. Cameron [Hildreth] was great and Hunter [Sallis] was solid down the stretch. We did a really good job of sharing the ball. We also got into the lane. We outscored them 50-20 in the lane. Those are high percentage shots. We didn't settle for any high-contested shots or threes. That was probably the biggest key.

It was really important for us to get back in the defensive transition. They score 19 points per game in transition, so you have to make them earn their shots. They made some threes today and I was afraid of that because they have some really great shooters. We ended the first half the way we wanted to. Start of the second half, we got five fouls right away. We then went into the zone and it helped because we didn't foul in it and we forced them to take time. They made shots but overall we continued to score. We made 70 percent of our shots in the second half. We knew that the defensive transition was going to be important and turnovers were going to be important. We only had nine turnovers so that was good, but we didn't do a good job on the defensive glass. They hurt us on the offensive glass and that really kept them in the game" - head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
Wake Forest returns to action at home inside The Joel Coliseum Wednesday, Jan. 15, when they host ACC newcomer the Stanford Cardinal.

Tip on Wednesday is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game will air live on ESPNews.

Next Event

Team Stats

Cameron Hildreth

Hunter Sallis

Tre'Von Spillers

Efton Reid III

Players Mentioned

Cameron Hildreth

Ty-Laur Johnson

Efton Reid III

Hunter Sallis

Tre'Von Spillers

Wake Forest Athletics