Junior guard Chaundee Brown scored a career-high 26 points and Wake Forest held off a second-half rally from No. 23 Xavier for an 80-78 home victory Saturday at Lawrence Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Brandon Childress tacked on 22 points and Andrien White had 13 points for the Demon Deacons (6-5), who snapped a three-game losing streak.

Childress sank two foul shots with 14.2 seconds to go for a 79-76 lead. But he made only one of two with 7.8 seconds left for an 80-78 edge.

Xavier reserve Quentin Goodin's potential winning 3-pointer bounced off at the buzzer as the Musketeers failed to recover from a 13-point hole.

Brown had struggled frequently in the past five games since coming off a one-game absence with an ankle injury. He had a total of 36 points in those games.

Junior guard Paul Scruggs notched a career-best 30 points for Xavier (9-2), which had a three-game winning streak snapped. Naji Marshall, who fouled out with 3:45 left, added 16 points.

Tyrique Jones supplied 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Wake Forest, which led 43-32 early in the second half, was hit by second-half turnovers.

The Musketeers quickly trimmed the deficit to one point before the Demon Deacons went up 60-48. A 13-point edge shrunk to 66-60 before Childress drained a 3.

Marshall's 3 closed the gap to 69-66 with 4:10 left. It was 73-72 in Wake Forest's favor after a Scruggs 3.

Both teams scored again before Childress' drive for a buck at the 32-second mark, and Scruggs countered with a move in the lane with 20.5 seconds to go to set up the final sequence.

Brown scored 18 points in the first half, which ended with Wake Forest leading 39-30. It marked only the second time this season the Musketeers trailed at the break, with a loss to Florida the other time.

The Demon Deacons held their largest halftime lead of the season. Other than Brown, Wake Forest's other starters had only 13 first-half points combined.

The Demon Deacons, who lost Dec. 1 to then-No. 14 Arizona, has played multiple ranked non-conference opponents for the first time in three seasons.

Wake Forest was without center Olivier Sarr, who leads the team in rebounding (9.5) and rates second in scoring (13.1). He entered the concussion protocol, apparently from an ailment that was uncovered from a game a week earlier.

This matchup was dubbed the Skip Prosser Classic in memory of the man who coached at both schools. He died in July 2007.

--Field Level Media