Wake Forest traveled north and picked up its fifth straight win by pulling ahead of Virginia Tech, 72-63, on Saturday at Cassell Coliseum.

The Deacons (14-4, 6-1 ACC) led for almost the entire game, save the first few minutes of the second half. But those leads were never more than 10, and even the times it was 10 was early in the first half and again with 18 seconds left in the game.

This was a grind-it-out road win, the Deacons’ third ACC road win of the season — already eclipsing last year’s total.

Hunter Sallis paced the Deacons with his seventh straight 20-point game, finishing with 24 on 10-for-17 shooting. He made 3 of 7 3-pointers and had seven rebounds.

Cameron Hildreth joined him with a 20-point game, finishing with 21 points. He was 7-for-13 from the field — a nice bounce back from the 1-for-12 he put up against Stanford on Wednesday night.

Nine of Hildreth’s points came in the last seven minutes, when the Deacons kept Virginia Tech (8-10, 3-4) at arm’s length and never let their lead get down to one possession.

Wake Forest took a season-low 11 3-pointers Wednesday night against Stanford; the Deacons were 4-for-15 in the first half against the Hokies. Two of those makes were center Efton Reid III, who entered the game 1-for-13 this season.

Part of the story in the second half was a reduction of 3s — Wake Forest 2-for-4 — and more of an emphasis to drive the ball.

TIP-INS: Omaha Biliew played for the first time since Wake’s win over Michigan on Nov. 10. He was on the court for 7 minutes, missed a couple of shots, and collected three fouls. … Jaden Schutt led VT with 12 points, one of four players to score in double figures. The others were Mylyjael Poteat (11 points), Tobi Lawal (10) and Brandon Rechsteiner (10). … VT committed 14 turnovers, which led to 14 points for Wake Forest. Conversely, the Deacons only committed seven turnovers, leading to five of the Hokies’ points.