 win their third straight and claim sole possession of second place in the league standings, a half-game ahead of No. 4 Duke. Bryant Crawford scored 16 points and Keyshawn Woods added 13 for the Demon Deacons (9-14, 2-9). Wake Forest went 5 minutes without a field goal down the stretch while Clemson finally took control of a tight game that had 20 lead changes and 12 ties. Reed put the Tigers ahead to stay with a free throw with 3:39 to play, and his jumper with about 90 seconds left put Clemson up 69-65 - the first time since early in the second half that the margin was greater than two possessions either way. Doral Moore added 13 rebounds for the Demon Deacons. Shelton Mitchell finished with 10 points for the Tigers. BIG PICTUREClemson: The Tigers did enough to sidestep a letdown that could have come following their victory over No. 19 North Carolina five nights earlier. The result was a leg up on the rest of the conference in the race for second in the ACC behind No. 2 Virginia, which has a three-game lead on everyone else. Wake Forest: This one will go on the lengthy list of ones that got away for the Demon Deacons - who also struggled down the stretch in losses to Tennessee, North Carolina and N. C. State. They missed nine of their final 10 shots in this one. UP NEXTClemson: Plays host to Pittsburgh on Thursday night. Wake Forest: Visits Miami on Wednesday night.---More college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/-Top25)
Time: 2:00 PM EST WINSTON-SALEM, N. C. -- Clemson seems to have found its footing again after a rough patch and now the No. 20 Tigers try to prevent Wake Forest from gaining much traction." The team feels good about the way we're playing," said Clemson coach Brad Brownell, whose Tigers will play for the third time in seven days. Clemson visits Wake Forest on Saturday afternoon at Joel Coliseum, where the Demon Deacons broke a seven-game losing streak by winning Wednesday night against Florida State. The Tigers appeared in danger of falling out of the national rankings, but beating host Georgia Tech on Sunday followed two nights later by gaining revenge on North Carolina puts them back in good shape as they're tied for second place in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Clemson (18-4, 7-3 ACC) can move alone into second place by defeating Wake Forest because Duke, which also shares second place, plays a non-conference game this weekend. The Tigers, after stalling miserably in a loss at first-place Virginia, rediscovered some offensive flow. Against North Carolina, they made a season-high 15 shots from 3-point range on the way to an 82-78 victory, marking their most points in an ACC game this season. Those came from a variety of sources." It was good to see some freshmen come in and play very well," Brownell said. Clemson's 27 free-throw attempts also signaled a high mark in league play for the team. The 3-pointers, which earlier this week marked the third-highest single-game total in school history, might not come easily for the Tigers in this game. Wake Forest has limited seven of its 10 ACC opponents to seven or fewer 3s. Meanwhile, much of Wake Forest's success depends on shooting. The Demon Deacons are 8-1 when posting a higher shooting percentage than their opponent. Wake Forest (9-13, 2-8) had gone nearly a month since winning before upending Florida State 76-72." We feel like we have a full team that is capable of scoring the basketball," Demon Deacons coach Danny Manning said. "I thought we had good shot distribution. We also had guys made some big shots for us." Wake Forest might have found a big of a spark with sophomore guard Brandon Childress making his first career starts the past two games. Much of it comes down to the team's decision-making, Manning said." I thought we did great on driving (the ball), but sometimes drove it a little too deep and got ourselves in danger," he said. "But in general, I thought we did a better job making good decisions when guys came flying at them." Wake Forest's Doral Moore, a 7-foot-1 junior center who seldom played until this season, has 99 career blocked shots so he could hit a milestone. Manning said Moore is coming off one of his better games." Not only by making shots, but also getting rebounds, playing good defense, blocking shots and even getting three steals," Manning said. Clemson hasn't been clear on whether graduate transfer Mark Donnal will be available for the Wake Forest game. He missed the North Carolina game, which came two days after Sunday's game at Georgia Tech, when he ended up in concussion protocol. This is the only time Clemson and Wake Forest are scheduled to meet this season.
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