Wake Forest missed a few too many free throws in the first half.

The Deacons made them when they mattered most and that’s how they notched a 79-73 victory at Stanford on Wednesday night.

Wake Forest (17-6, 9-3 ACC) scored a Quad-1 win, its second of the season, by making 15 of 16 free throws in the second half. After the game was tied 69-69 with 1:41 left, Wake Forest scored 10 of the game’s last 14 points; eight of those points came at the free-throw line.

That, from a team that was 10-for-17 at the charity stripe in the first half.

“We made them when we needed to,” coach Steve Forbes said via post-game radio interview. “There was a part of me that thought that was going to come back to get us.”

Cameron Hildreth made the first two of those eight free throws down the stretch, the last two of his game-high 22 points. Hunter Sallis made the next two, and added another two with 31 seconds left, finishing with 19 points.

Wake’s senior guard duo was a combined 13-for-20 from the field; Sallis added seven rebounds, five assists and three steals, while Hildreth had two assists and two steals.

Ty-Laur Johnson scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half, including a pair of free throws with 43 seconds left to stretch Wake’s lead to 75-69. Juke Harris sealed the victory with a dunk, which were the final points of the game.

“Cameron really carried us in the first half. He plays so hard, my God,” Forbes said via radio interview. “I thought Ty made a really big 3 (in the second half).”

It’s a crucial win for the Deacons, their fourth ACC road win of the season. They’ve got another one coming up, as their west coast trip ends with Saturday’s game at California.

On the NCAA tournament bubble again, road wins are so valuable — especially this one, considering Stanford (15-8, 7-5) is in the same neighborhood as Wake Forest in the NET and KenPom rankings. The Cardinal also had not lost at home to an east coast team this season.

“I could tell during the timeouts that we were fine. … They were determined to win this one,” Forbes said of his team.

The Deacons’ closing stretch was the last surge in a second half that saw neither team able to create separation. Until Wake Forest had six straight free throws to get a six-point lead, neither team led by more than five in the second half.

Wake Forest was ahead 40-37 at halftime and there was an argument that margin should’ve been larger — mostly because of that 10-for-17 clip at the free-throw line.

Stanford played 10 players in the first half and nine were called for at least one foul, four of them for multiple fouls, adding up to 14 fouls.

Hildreth had 15 points at halftime, three more than he had in Wake’s game against the Cardinal last month.

Stanford center Maxime Raynaud had 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. But he was again bothered by Wake’s physicality.

“I thought we did a really good job on Raynaud,” Forbes said. “He quit posting up, he just went out to the perimeter.”

Efton Reid III had eight points and six rebounds. He picked up his fourth foul with eight minutes left but was never whistled for his fifth.

TIP-INS: Hildreth has scored at least 20 points in four of Wake’s last six games. In the two he didn’t, he scored two and four points in games that he was dealing with an illness. … Hildreth made Wake’s only two 3-pointers in the first half; Johnson made Wake’s only two 3s in the second half. … Stanford’s turnovers were a big focal point of this game, given the Cardinal is one of the best teams in the ACC at protecting the ball and Wake Forest is one of the best at forcing turnovers. Stanford finished with 17 turnovers, leading to 20 of Wake’s points. … Stanford was without Jaylen Blakes for the second straight game. The Duke transfer is ailing from a concussion; he had 15 points and seven assists against the Deacons in Winston-Salem. The Cardinal was also missing Benny Gealer, who started at SMU over the weekend in place of Blakes.