The Stalemate Ends with a Win by Wake

The finale of the first round for the 2026 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Men's Basketball Tournament featured the 12th-seeded Virginia Tech Hokies (19-12 overall, 8-10 ACC) against the 13th-seeded Wake Forest Demon Deacons (16-15 overall, 7-11 ACC) here in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Senior forward Tre'Von Spillers would get Wake Forest on the board first with a dunk off of an alley-oop from sophomore guard Sebastian Akins on a play started by Spillers stealing the ball from a pass attempt that came from Virginia Tech senior forward Tobi Lawal.

Despite the Hokies bringing about two ties, the Demon Deacons never trailed in the first half, leading 38-34 at the half.

Virginia Tech's first lead of the game at the 16:17 mark on a layup by graduate guard Jailen Bedford that made it 41-40 Hokies.

Wake Forest junior forward Cooper Schwieger replied with his own layup, which was then followed up by a jump shot coming from freshman guard Neoklis Avdalas, giving Virginia Tech a 44-42 lead.

At the 10:46 mark, the game was even at 54-all after a jumper by Bedford for the Hokies.

Over nine minutes later, it was tied again, at 73-apiece, with 1:20 to play.

Lawal would be called for a foul which would be reviewed and upgraded to a Flagrant-1, giving the Demon Deacons the ball after free throws by junior guard Myles Colvin. Both freebies would be made by Colvin but Wake Forest did not come away with anything on the ensuing possession, making it 75-73 Demon Deacons.

Hokies' sophomore guard Ben Hammond was fouled and made both on a 1-and-1 attempt, tying the game at 75-all with 47 seconds left.

After a miss by Wake Forest, Virginia Tech had the ball, called timeout, and came onto the floor with the shot clock off and 17.7 seconds on the game clock.

Hammond and Bedford would both miss for the Hokies, and the last game of Day 1 would go into an extra period.

The Demon Deacons got back-to-back makes to start overtime, both from Colvin, the first on a jumper inside the arc and the second from the outside, giving Wake Forest an 80-75 lead.

Two free throws by Lawal by two minutes remaining made it a one-point game, with Virginia Tech down 84-83, but sophomore guard Juke Harris nailed a turnaround jumper to extend the Demon Deacons out to a three-point lead, 86-83, with 1:36 to go.

Lawal would edge the Hokies closer once again, going inside for a dunk at the 1:25 mark, making it 86-85 Demon Deacons.

Akins' old-fashioned three-point play would come in response, advancing Wake Forest out to a two-possession lead, 89-85.

Lawal made two freebies inside 36 seconds to get Virginia Tech back within one possession, down 89-87.

Akins responded with two free throws of his own to bring the score to 91-87 in favor of the Demon Deacons, and, you guessed it, the Hokies had an answer, this coming in the form of a layup by Hammond, moving the score to 91-89 Demon Deacons with under 20 seconds remaining.

Colvin gave Wake Forest another two free throws and Schwieger would then steal the ball from Hammond with exactly nine seconds to go in overtime. Schwieger made both free throws, elevating the Demon Deacons to a 95-89 lead that they would take to the end.

With the victory, Wake Forest will go on to the second round of the ACC Tournament to face the 5th-seeded Clemson Tigers in the late game, tipping off at approximately 9:30pm ET on Wednesday, March 11, on ESPN2.