WINSTON-SALEM – The timing was just right for Wake Forest to have the ball in Hunter Sallis’ hands for big shots.

That it happened twice down the stretch was double the pleasure for the Deacons on Saturday afternoon against Pittsburgh.

“When I (saw) they went into the zone, I definitely knew I’d see some open ones,” Sallis said. “That was a big thing I was thinking, especially that last 3.”

Sallis drained both late jumpers and Wake Forest pulled out a 76-74 victory at Joel Coliseum.

He took only 11 shots in the game, his final attempt breaking a tie with less than two minutes left.

“I wanted him to take that shot,” coach Steve Forbes said. “I think the team does, too.”

It helped that Ty-Laur Johnson, who had a splendid second half, took repeated trips to the free-throw line in the waning seconds.

It all added to ending Wake’s first two-game losing streak of the season following setbacks to nationally ranked Duke and Louisville.

Cameron Hildreth poured in 24 points, Johnson racked up 16 and Sallis finished with 13 for Deacons (16-6, 8-3 ACC)

Sallis hit back-to-back jumpers, the latter a 3 from the left wing to put the Deacons ahead at 68-65 with 1:53 to go. He had missed his first four 3s.

“He made the one that counted that we really needed,” Forbes said. “Credit to Ty for having the maturity to do that (and find Sallis with a pass).”

Sallis, who sat out after two early fouls, was coming off a season-low 24 minutes in the Louisville game, when he was ejected for two technical fouls.

“He didn’t play a lot against Louisville … so he was pretty fresh,” Forbes said.

Johnson did his part on the key sequence, passing up what looked like an open opportunity.

“Pass up a good shot to get a great shot,” Johnson said.

Sallis was ready with plenty of space between the closest defender.

“When Ty has the ball, just always be ready for it,” he said. “He’ll throw it to you whenever. … I feel like a lot of times this year I haven’t been that open, so I was definitely surprised. Just got to knock it down.”

Johnson drained both ends of a 1-and-1 with 20.4 seconds remaining. He did the same thing – in what seemed like about five minutes later in real time, but with 16.6 showing on the clock – to make it 74-69.

Johnson’s third visit to the free-throw line for a 1-and-1 came with 9.1 to play and he was good on both attempts before Damian Dunn’s buzzer 3.

“At the end of practice, I always make 10 in a row,” Johnson said. “It was kind of like, just trust your training.”

For Johnson, it was a good feeling after he hadn’t been feeling well.

“Ty-Laur wasn’t even in the building yesterday,” Forbes said. “He had a 101-degree temperature. I wasn’t even sure he was going to play until this morning. … Every team goes through this, I get it. But it’s how you handle it.”

Dunn finished with 24 points, Ishmael Leggett had 16 and Jaland Lowe added 14 for Pitt (14-7, 5-5).

“We both want to be in the postseason, and so it was just two teams fighting and competing,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel III said. “Disappointing, but I thought we got better and I thought that we did some good stuff.”

Pitt grabbed the lead on Dunn’s 3-pointer and resulted in a 36-34 halftime lead when Wake’s final possession was clunky and resulted Sallis’ airball. Forbes stormed off the court, later admitting his animation at that moment was more extreme than usual.

So that marked the fourth consecutive game and the fifth time in the last six games that the Deacons trailed at the half.

Earlier, Wake Forest went up 20-11, resulting in a Pitt timeout. Across the next four minutes, the Panthers outscored Wake by 13-5.

“We just couldn’t get away from them,” Forbes said.

Johnson had four first-half turnovers and none after the break.

Wake went 20-for-22 on free throws. Pitt was 20-for-20 at the line.

There was a good omen for the Deacons on the game’s opening possession when Hildreth drained a 3-pointer.

Hildreth had just one 3-point basket in the previous five games combined, going 1-for-13 during that stretch. He hadn’t made a shot from beyond the arc at Joel Coliseum since Jake Dickert was Washington State’s football coach.

He had been 0-for-13 on 3s in home ACC games.

“It’s amazing how you see one go in, the rest of them have a better chance to go in,” Forbes said.

Like his first 3, his first second-half 3-pointer also was a go-ahead basket. That came with 17:13 remaining and the Deacons led for the next 14 minutes until Pitt pulled even.

Hildreth’s third 3 stretched Wake’s lead to 53-45, a nice margin until the Panthers scored the next seven points.

Hildreth, who was 3-for-3 on 3s, reached the 20-point mark for the fifth time this season, all against ACC opponents.

TIP-INS: Pitt is 0-7 at Joel Coliseum. … Despite speculation that Omaha Biliew might be back in action, he sat out his fourth consecutive game with an ankle injury. The Deacons used only seven players. … Members of the Patrick Henry High School (Glade Spring, Va.) boys’ basketball team sat behind the Wake bench.

Have a nice trip

The Deacons head West for their next two games, with an 11 p.m. ET tip vs. Stanford on Wednesday before Saturday’s 5 p.m. matchup with California.

“It was a big-time win, especially going to California next week,” Sallis said. “This was definitely one that we needed.”