Down eight points in the second half, Wake Forest rallied Saturday for its first Atlantic Coast Conference victory, defeating Virginia 76-71 in Winston-Salem, N.C.

In a matchup of two of the conference’s bottom dwellers, the Demon Deacons (8-13, 1-5 ACC) fought back from a 53-45 deficit with 11 minutes to go. Ty Walker’s basket with 5:48 left gave the Demon Deacons a 58-57 lead. The Cavaliers (11-10, 2-5 ACC) tied the game at 65-65 on Mustapha Farrakhan’s layup with 2:12 left. But C.J. Harris answered on the ensuing possession with a 3-pointer, pushing Wake ahead 68-65 with 1:59 remaining.

Two Harris free throws and a Gary Clark jumper extended Wake’s lead to 72-65 with 47 seconds left. Sammy Zeglinski brought Virginia within 72-68 with a 3-pointer with 42 seconds to go. Harris hit two more free throws, and after Farrakhan’s 3-pointer made it 74-71 with 28 seconds left, Travis McKie hit two free throws with 25 seconds left to put the game away for Wake.

Harris led six Demon Deacons in double figures with 15 points. Wake hit 19 of 21 free throws and shot 47.4 percent from 3-point range. Wake hit four 3-pointers in the first nine minutes of the opening half, building an 18-10 lead on J.T. Terrell’s 3 with 11:22 left. A 12-1 run pushed Virginia ahead just three minutes later, Zeglinski’s 3-pointer giving the Cavaliers a 22-19 advantage.

Assane Sene scored 15 points to lead the Cavaliers.