Demon Deacons Earn Tenth Conference Win at Cal

BERKELEY, Calif. – Behind a high-scoring output in the second half, Wake Forest men's basketball (18-6, 10-3 ACC) wrapped its West Coast trip on Saturday afternoon, grabbing a 76-66 road win at California (12-12, 5-8 ACC).

The result is the Demon Deacons' 10th ACC win of 2024-25, as the program has now won 10 or more conference contests in each of the last four seasons. Additionally, Wake Forest became the first ACC program this season to sweep the league's two California schools on the road.

Senior forward Efton Reid III made his presence felt early, ultimately contributing a career-high 19 points while shooting 8-of-9 from the floor. He also made both of his attempts from three-point territory and pulled down four rebounds in 37 minutes.

Senior guards Cameron Hildreth and Hunter Sallis enjoyed strong days on the offensive end as well, tallying 23 and 20 points respectively. Sallis grabbed a team-high eight rebounds while Hildreth scooped a career-best five steals.

Sophomore guard Ty-Laur Johnson helped control the tempo with his playmaking, racking up six assists to lead all individuals. He also added six points and four steals to his line.

Offensively, Wake Forest clicked on all cylinders during the final 20 minutes, making 17-of-23 looks (73.9 percent). For the game the Deacs shot 57.7 percent from the field, their best mark of the year, and had a significant advantage in paint points (48-16).

Wake Forest's defense collected a season-high 12 steals while forcing 13 California turnovers and only committing seven.

How It Happened

Wake's first bucket came off a drive from Johnson to make it 5-2, Cal.
- On the next possession, a bucket from Reid cut it to two, 6-4.
Sallis capitalized two possessions later with a steal on the defensive end and a driving layup to stay within two.
The Deacs answered a Cal three with a driving bucket from Hildreth to make it 11-8, Cal.
A free throw and jumper from Sallis kept the Deacs within two out of the timeout, 13-11.
- Out of the next timeout, a baseline feed to Harris from Johnson tied it at 13.
A jumper in the lane from Sallis on the next play kept things tied at 15.
- Two free throws from Hildreth gave Wake the 17-15 lead.
Hildreth put the Deacs on a 7-0 run with a three from the left wing on the next possession for the five-point lead.
Reid maintained the five-point lead and the 9-2 run with a reverse layup.
Another layup from Hildreth created a six-point lead after a Cal free throw.
Reid backed down for another bucket and ended a short Cal run to keep the three-point lead, 26-23, with under four minutes to go in the half.
Reid ended a 6-0 Cal run with a three from the top of the key to tie it at 29 with a minute to go in the half.
After a flurry of back-and-forth steals, Hildreth came out with the ball and found Sallis at the rim for the two-point lead.
Wake Forest went into halftime with the 31-29 lead.
- Hildreth, Sallis and Reid each had a game-high nine points in the opening 20 minutes.
- Reid led the Deacs with four rebounds in the first half.
Hildreth found Spillers under the basket to start the second half with a four-point lead.
A steal from Johnson led to a layup by Hildreth for the five-point lead.
- A short Cal run tied it at 35.
A jumper from Reid put Wake back in front by two, 37-35.
- Two free throws from Cal tied it at 38.
A jumper from Sallis on the next possession put Wake back in front, 40-38.
Johnson found Reid under the basket for a slam to keep the two-point lead.
- Cal tied it at 42 out of the timeout.
Biliew knocked down his first bucket of the game for the 44-42 lead.
Reid knocked down his second three from the top of the key for the 48-42 lead and put Wake on a 6-0 run.
Hildreth made it an 8-0 boost with a baseline jumper on the next possession.
- The Demon Deacon defense held Cal scoreless for over three minutes of game time.
Hildreth converted the three-point play to make it 53-45 with 10:32 left to play.
Johnson took it all the way to the basket on the next possession to extend the lead to 10.
- On the next play, Johnson fed Hildreth at the free throw line for the jumper to keep the lead at 10.
Wake scored on a fourth-straight possession with a feed from Johnson to Spillers on the baseline for the bucket and the 12-point lead with eight minutes left to go.
Reid put the Deacs on a 7-0 run with the three-point play to put Wake up 62-47.
After Cal cut into the deficit with five free-throw makes, Sallis sank a jumper to keep his squad ahead with a 12-point lead.
Free throws from Sallis and Hildreth extended the lead to 14 with five minutes to go.
- Two more free throws from Hildreth made it a 16-point game.
- The Wake Forest defense held Cal without a field goal for over five minutes of game time.
Reid found Hildreth in the lane for the slam to keep the Deacs in front by double digits with under three minutes of game time left.
- Two free throws from Johnson on the next possession made it a 13-point game with 2:20 to play.
The next possession saw Sallis take it all the way to the rim for the 15-point lead with under two minutes to go.
Just before the shot clock ran out, Sallis drained a turnaround jumper to maintain the lead.
Wake Forest defeated California, 76-66.

Stats of the Game

Cameron Hildreth has now scored 20-plus points in ACC play seven times this season, as the Worthing, England, native led the way with a game-high 23 on Saturday.
The Demon Deacons defense was stifling in holding the Golden Bears to a 35.8 field goal percentage.

Key Moment

With the game tied at 42 all just under 15 minutes in the second half, Biliew made a turnaround jumper before Sallis drew contact to step to the charity stripe. Reid then netted his second triple of the game before Hildreth converted a floating jumper outside of the paint for an eight-point swing.

Coach's Comments
"Very proud of my team for being the first ACC team to come out to California and sweep this road trip. It's a hard trip. I'm not complaining because I know Cal and Stanford have to come back our way four or five times. I can't imagine how hard that is for them. We've been out here since Monday night and we've had great togetherness and chemistry within our team. We competed at a very high level in both games.

From about the 8:50 mark to about the three-minute mark in the second-half we just really locked down defensively. I don't think they made a field goal during that time. We weren't behind the play anymore and we boxed out. Offensive rebounds kept them in the game. I knew that was going to be a problem heading into this game . They are elite at getting back their missed shots, and they had eight of them at the half. I told the team at halftime that they couldn't come in here with 12 or more offensive rebounds for the game and they had 12 at the first media timeout of the second half. That wasn't good, but we only held them to two more the rest of the game.

We shot 72 percent from the paint and we shot 77 percent in the second half. We only had seven turnovers. We shared the ball and we got 15 assists out of it. When we passed the ball more than three times, we had 28 points on 21 possessions. That's pretty good. Hunter [Sallis], Cameron [Hildreth], and Efton [Reid] went 24-for-36 from the field. They were outstanding. Omaha Biliew provided a spark for us. He hasn't really played any meaningful minutes since we played Michigan during the first week of the season. He was +14 on the plus/minus today. We just got a lot of really good, all-around performances from everybody. It's a really solid win for us." - head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
Wake Forest will return to Winston-Salem for a Wednesday night matchup with Florida State at LJVM Coliseum. Tip is set for 7 p.m. and the game will air live on ESPNU.

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Team Stats

Cameron Hildreth

Hunter Sallis

Efton Reid III

Ty-Laur Johnson

Players Mentioned

Omaha Biliew

Cameron Hildreth

Ty-Laur Johnson

Efton Reid III

Hunter Sallis

Wake Forest Athletics