Chaundee Brown made a tiebreaking 3-point basket with 32 seconds left in overtime as Wake Forest pulled out a 78-76 victory against visiting Pittsburgh on Tuesday night at Lawrence Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Jaylen Hoard scored 19 points, while Brown and Brandon Childress each finished with 18 points as Wake Forest (9-13, 2-8 Atlantic Coast Conference) snapped a five-game losing streak. Hoard scored a basket to force overtime.
Xavier Johnson scored 23 points, including some crucial free throws, for Pittsburgh (12-11, 2-8), which lost its sixth game in a row.
Justin Wilson-Frame's 17 points and reserve Sidy N'Dir's 15 points helped Pittsburgh, but they combined for only two points in overtime.
The lead flipped several times in the second half before it appeared Wake Forest took control.
Wake Forest freshman Sharone Wright Jr. tallied 11 points in a span of slightly more than three minutes as the Demon Deacons grabbed a 61-53 lead. Wright had been scoreless until that stretch.
Pittsburgh pulled even at 65-65 on Johnson's free throw with 1:20 left. He made two more for the lead at the 44-second mark.
That was followed by a Wake Forest turnover. Johnson, though, misfired on a free throw.
The Demon Deacons missed their next three shots before Hoard's putback with less than a second remaining forced overtime at 67-67.
Wake Forest did considerable damage on free throws, hitting 15 of 20.
Pittsburgh led most of the first half, then took a 28-26 lead into the break on Johnson's jumper.
Pittsburgh scored the game's first eight points, creating another horrid start for Wake Forest.
Wake Forest was headed toward another miserable half of shooting until making three 3-point attempts in a row, two by Childress.
Even with that, the Demon Deacons shot 26.7 percent from the field in the opening half. Their reserves were a combined 0-for-7.
Pittsburgh wasn't much better in the shooting department, hitting 33.3 percent.
Wake Forest won the past two matchups with Pittsburgh.
--Field Level Media
Pittsburgh | Wake Forest | |
Xavier Johnson 23 | Scoring | Jaylen Hoard 19 |
Xavier Johnson 9 | Assists | Brandon Childress 6 |
Malik Ellison 8 | Rebounds | Jaylen Hoard 17 |
Xavier Johnson 6 | Free Throws Made | Jaylen Hoard 5 |
Jared Wilson-Frame 3 | Steals | Brandon Childress 2 |
Jared Wilson-Frame 2 | Blocks | Jaylen Hoard 3 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Pittsburgh | 76 | 42.0 | 8-21 | 10-18 | 15 | 32 | 4 | 9 | 9 |
Wake Forest | 78 | 42.2 | 9-24 | 15-20 | 16 | 41 | 6 | 4 | 18 |