Chase Fischer scored 15 points with a career-high five 3-pointers to help Wake Forest hold off High Point 71-60 on Wednesday night.
Freshmen Aaron Rountree and Tyler Cavanaugh added 11 points apiece for the Demon Deacons (4-4).
Wake Forest snapped a two-game losing streak, but there was nothing easy about this one. The Demon Deacons needed to make a late stand to avoid its first loss to High Point since 1934-35 - and its 14th loss to a school from a non-BCS conference under third-year coach Jeff Bzdelik.
Freshman John Brown had 27 points and 10 rebounds, while Allen Chaney added 10 rebounds for the pesky Panthers (4-4). They only led once in the second half but kept things tight before fading in the final 5 minutes.
Brown put on quite a show in his eighth career game, reaching 20 points for the fourth time while finishing with his first double-double. His open-court dunk pulled them to 59-54 with just over 5 minutes remaining.
But High Point followed with four consecutive empty possessions while the Demon Deacons gradually rebuilt their lead. After Wake Forest's C.J. Harris beat the Panthers downcourt for a layup off an inbounds pass with 3 1/2 minutes left, and Rountree gave them their first double-figure lead with a free throw with 3:06 left that made it 64-54.
High Point didn't get closer than eight the rest of the way, and Fischer's dagger 3 with 1:20 left - his fifth 3-pointer of the night - put Wake Forest up 69-58.
Neither team led by more than six points until Devin Thomas put Wake Forest up 54-46 with just under 9 minutes remaining. That came during a 9-2 spurt midway through the half that gave the Demon Deacons at least a sliver of separation.
Brown single-handedly kept the Panthers in the game, scoring their first 10 points after the break, and his jumper with 16 1/2 minutes left gave them their only lead of the half at 35-34.
Fischer countered with a 3-pointer roughly 20 seconds later, and added another one 2 minutes after that to make it 40-37 and put the Demon Deacons ahead to stay.
