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HIGH POINT (AP) — Everything seemed to line up against Wake Forest. Inspired High Point was playing host to an ACC team for the first time, brought back its most famous alumnus — and its best player couldn't miss.

And yet, the Demon Deacons found a way to win.

C.J. Harris and Tony Chennault each scored 20 points and Wake Forest held on to beat hot-shooting High Point 87-83 on Wednesday night.

Travis McKie finished with 18 points for the Demon Deacons (6-3). They hit 70 percent of their shots in the second half — 14 of 20 — made 13 3-pointers and led for all but roughly 3 minutes.

Yet they needed to withstand a furious rally to claim their 13th win in 14 meetings between the schools.

"I always go in with a 'me-against-the-world' mindset, so it definitely doesn't mean anything to me that the odds were against us," McKie said. "We knew that going into the season. Coach has preached about that over and over again — nobody's going to give us anything. But we definitely came out here together, players stepped up and we got a big win on the road."

Nick Barbour had a season-high 35 points and seven of the Panthers' 15 3-pointers.

"Dude couldn't miss," teammate Corey Law said.

Barbour's 3 with 30.4 seconds left pulled High Point to 85-83. Nikita Mescheriakov, who had been intentionally fouled, and Chennault each hit a free throw to make it a four-point game.

The Panthers couldn't get a good look during their final possession, with Xavier Martin and Barbour missing 3s in the final 15 seconds.

"Nick Barbour just really was on fire," Wake Forest coach Jeff Bzdelik said. "I mean, that was a great performance from him, and it was a hard-fought game, and I'm very proud of my basketball team. We went wire-to-wire with a great effort."

They needed it, because High Point (2-6) packed its 1,750-seat Millis Center to celebrate Minnesota coach Tubby Smith — who played for the Panthers from 1969-73 before starting his noteworthy coaching career — and brought in its first ACC visitor.

"It was crazy," Harris said. "A couple of times out there, I couldn't hear."

And the intimate arena — the smallest to play host to the Demon Deacons since the 1950s — was really rocking down the stretch, when the Panthers hit 3-pointer after 3-pointer to wipe away Wake Forest's huge lead. They were 10 of 21 from beyond the arc in the second half, when Barbour was 6 of 7 from long range.

"You could tell — when he hit a shot, he wanted the next one," Harris said.

Barbour helped High Point erase most of a 15-point deficit. The Panthers' 19-7 run midway through the half included a stretch in which they held Wake Forest to one field goal over six minutes.

Shay Shine finished with 19 points and Law added 11 for High Point.

Mescheriakov had 12 points for Wake Forest, which was short-handed with backup forward Daniel Green not in uniform due to illness — leaving Bzdelik's rotation only seven scholarship players deep.

The Demon Deacons led by 13 three times in the first half following runs of 24-8 and 14-4. Later, they reeled off seven quick points to start the second half, with Harris' jumper in the lane with 18½ minutes left giving them their largest lead at 52-37.

"I felt like we were going to win the game the whole time," Barbour said. "Even (in) the second half, (equals)when we got down 15, I still felt like we were going to make a run. I mean, it's basketball. Basketball's a game of runs, and I felt like we were going to win (through) the whole game."

WAKE FOREST (6-3)

Mescheriakov 4-4 1-2 12, McKie 7-15 4-5 18, Desrosiers 2-4 2-2 7, Chennault 5-10 7-10 20, Harris 7-8 2-3 20, Fields 1-3 2-2 4, Fischer 2-4 0-0 6, Godwin 0-0 0-0 0, Keenan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-48 18-24 87.

HIGH POINT (2-6)

Law 5-8 1-2 11, Mikulic 3-9 0-1 8, Martin 2-5 1-4 7, Barbour 12-18 4-5 35, Shine 5-14 5-6 19, Wallace 0-5 0-0 0, Simms 0-1 0-0 0, Elliott 1-3 1-4 3. Totals 28-63 12-22 83.

Halftime—Wake Forest 45-37.

Percentages—Wake Forest (FG .583, FT .750), High Point (FG .444, FT .545).

3-point goals—Wake Forest 13-22 (Harris 4-5, Mescheriakov 3-3, Chennault 3-5, Fischer 2-4, Desrosiers 1-1, Fields 0-1, McKie 0-3), High Point 15-34 (Barbour 7-11, Shine 4-9, Martin 2-5, Mikulic 2-7, Simms 0-1, Wallace 0-1).

Fouled out—None.

Rebounds—Wake Forest 29 (Mescheriakov 7), High Point 35 (Mikulic 8).

Team rebounds—Wake Forest 4, High Point 3.

Assists—Wake Forest 19 (Chennault 6), High Point 21 (Shine 8).

Blocked shots—Wake Forest 4 (Desrosiers 3), High Point 3 (Elliott 2).

Turnovers—Wake Forest 13 (McKie 3), High Point 11 (Wallace 2, Law 2, Barbour 2).

Steals—Wake Forest 8 (Fields 2, Harris 2), High Point 7 (7 players with 1 each).

Total fouls—Wake Forest 19, High Point 19.

A—1,801.

Officials—Tim Nestor, Sean Casady, Jerry Heater.