WINSTON-SALEM – Repeatedly forcing Miami’s shooters to go clank early and late was just enough to keep Wake Forest and its sputtering offense from producing a clunker Tuesday night.

Building an early 17-point lead as the Hurricanes missed 13 of their first 15 field-goal attempts, the Demon Deacons needed to shut the visitors out on their last seven possessions to scrape out a 62-53 victory before an announced crowd of 11,241 at the Joel Coliseum.

“It was an ugly game,” said freshman guard C.J. Harris, who led Wake with 12 points on the strength of 6 of 6 free-throw shooting.

How ugly? Neither team ever got into a good flow on offense. Miami shot just 29.6 percent from the field. Wake hit only 31.8 percent of its shots in the second half and made just one field goal in the last 9:09.

Ish Smith was the Deacons’ second leading scorer with 11 points despite going 4 of 12 from the field; Wake had trouble with Miami’s 2-3 zone defense, and Al-Farouq Aminu was held to a season-low six points.

But, the Deacons were able to put the game away by holding Miami to just one free throw after the Hurricanes cut the lead to 55-52 with 5:34 to play. The defensive effort included holding the Hurricanes scoreless on their last six possessions while Wake made 5 of 6 foul shots.

Wake improves to 15-5 and 5-3 in the ACC. Miami drops to 16-6, 2-6.

“That shows how good our defense is,” Harris said. “Coach says we are going to have droughts in our scoring. Our identity is defense.”

The defense held Dwayne Collins, one of the Hurricanes' top offensive threats, to five points. Garrius Adams came off the bench to lead Miami with 13 points, and James Dews added 11.

Despite the defense, the Hurricanes had a chance to pull within two trailing 57-53 when Aminu blocked a layup attempt by Adams with 2:22 remaining.

“Our guys fought hard to get back in the game,” Miami coach Frank Haith said. “We just didn’t make the plays down the stretch.”

Wake built its biggest lead at 25-8 with 6:36 left in the first half and its chances to blow out the Hurricanes. Instead, Wake hit only three shots and committed four turnovers in its next 10 possessions, most of them in

transition. As late as 16:34 remaining in the game, Wake led by double digits (41-30) before the Hurricanes chipped away at the lead.

gsmith@hpe.com | 888-3519