RALEIGH – Sometimes you just need a break or two to go your way.

“It’s about freaking time,” Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said of being on the right side of a one-score game.

The Deacons rallied in what has so often been a house of horrors, winning 34-30 over N.C. State on Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium.

While it’s too early to declare anything a season-saving result, and too easy to get lost in the meaning of a Big 4 win; it can’t be understated how much a win here, trailing by 10 in the fourth quarter, could mean for the Deacons moving forward.

“We came together,” said junior running back Demond Claiborne, whose two fourth-quarter touchdowns were the difference. “Since I’ve been here, that’s probably the first time we’ve come together … and actually all had the same vision.

“We did not want to leave that field today without the W and it showed in everything we did.”

Wake Forest (2-3, 1-1 ACC) is now 4-8 in one-score games over the last three seasons, after going 17-8 between 2016-21. This game, thanks in no small part to those touchdown runs of 32 and 3 yards in the fourth quarter and a defense that made plays when it mattered most, comes after the Deacons lost to Virginia (31-30) and Louisiana (41-38) in one-score games this season.

“We were able to overcome and finally get over that hump,” said quarterback Hank Bachmeier, who converted two fourth downs — both to Deuce Alexander — on the game-winning drive. “I think once you’re able to get over that hump and you do it once, you can do it every freaking time.”

It’s a stark contrast to where the vibes have been with this team for a month.

The Deacons had lost eight straight games against FBS opponents and were coming to a stadium where they’ve won twice since 1985.

Well, thrice now.

But it’s also vindication for a Deacons team that has maintained it was close to turning the tide and just needed stick together and find a way to make the plays that mattered.

“I used to brag to our team … that (in) one-score games, we were like, one of the top-five teams in the country,” Clawson said. “And the second I shared that with our team, we’ve shit the bed in those games.”

No worries and no defecation here.

N.C. State (3-3, 0-2) took a 30-20 lead with 13:08 left, freshman quarterback CJ Bailey throwing a 23-yard touchdown to tight end Justin Joly over the middle.

Wake Forest answered with a nine-play, 75-yard drive that was kept alive when offensive lineman Nick Sharpe recovered a fumble and N.C. State’s Devon Betty was flagged for roughing the passer on consecutive snaps.

Bachmeier later converted a fourth-and-9 with a 16-yard scramble up the middle, and on the next play, Claiborne dodged a would-be tackler at the line of scrimmage and tore into the end zone.

Not bad for a guy who was carted off the field last weekend with a dislocated kneecap.

“Last week, I dislocated my kneecap. So my kneecap was on the side of my leg,” Claiborne said. “Coming into this week, they limited my reps a lot and allowed me to rest. It allowed me to get my legs back. Coming into this game, I was fresh. I felt like Game One out there.”

Wake’s defense forced a three-and-out — one of five N.C. State possessions that didn’t have a first down, all of those coming in the second half — and went 65 yards on 13 plays for the game-winning touchdown.

The first fourth-down conversion of that drive was a 17-yard pass from Bachmeier to Alexander from the 50, needing 5 yards for the first down; the second was a fourth-and-3 from the 26 with less than two minutes left.

“It was crazy because we ran that exact same rep in practice and we messed it up,” Bachmeier said of the first conversion. “It was literally the same exact rep and I honestly threw it kind of blind, and I knew he was going to be in that area, and he made a great play.”

Wake’s defense needed one more stop, leading by four with 61 seconds left. It took one play, with Bailey throwing under duress and linebacker Branson Combs diving for an interception.

“Honestly, it just kind of fell in my lap,” Combs said. “(Jasheen Davis) was getting pressure … a lot of it really doesn’t have to do with me.”

This game had quite a pall cast over it early.

On N.C. State’s first possession, quarterback Grayson McCall — a surprise starter after he missed the last two games with an undisclosed injury — scrambled and was hit by multiple Deacons around the 10-yard line.

He fumbled and that was the least of concerns; McCall remained on the ground and N.C. State’s medical team rushed onto the field while Wake’s Evan Slocum returned the fumble 88 yards, to the Wolfpack’s 2-yard line.

McCall was down for several minutes, his family coming onto the field, a few teammates gathering around him. He was put onto a stretcher, from which he motioned to the crowd with his hand, and was carted off the field on the back of a John Deere.

Getting back to football, Wake Forest scored a touchdown two plays later to make it a 10-0 lead. That was Claiborne leaking into the end zone for a 3-yard catch from Bachmeier.

The Wolfpack scored the next 13 points, which both gave it the lead and was something of a small victory for the Deacons. N.C. State reached the red zone on each of those possessions and only punched in one touchdown — a 9-yard touchdown on third-and-goal to Keenan Jackson — and settled for two 35-yard field goals.

Wake Forest got a third-and-long touchdown of its own when Horatio Fields pulled in a 23-yard touchdown catch between two defenders in the front corner of the end zone.

N.C. State added another field goal with a few seconds left in the first half that made it a 17-16 game at halftime.

EXTRA POINTS: There was an announced crowd of 56,919, so Wake Forest is now 3-21 under Clawson in front of crowds of at least 50,000. … Claiborne had 136 yards on 20 carries, marking his second 100-yard game this season and the third of his career. … Redshirt freshman receiver Micah Mays Jr. started and had the first four catches of his career, for 48 yards. Neither Donavon Greene nor Walker Merrill traveled to Raleigh. … N.C. State’s Kevin Concepcion had 10 offensive touches for a combined 38 yards. … The Wolfpack was 8-for-15 on third downs; Wake Forest was 3-for-11 on third downs, but 3-for-3 on fourth downs, each of which was in the fourth quarter.