WINSTON-SALEM – This time, Wake Forest made the winning plays it needed down the stretch of a 79-74 win over visiting Notre Dame on Saturday at Joel Coliseum.

“It’s a testament to their will,” coach Steve Forbes said of his team notching a victory in the third straight game against a team among the top three of the ACC standings. “Our crowd was unbelievable. I think they helped us a lot down the stretch.”

Wake Forest (21-7, 11-6 ACC) entered having lost consecutive games for the second time this season, and the Deacons trailed 41-35 at halftime.

After a first half defined by runs and momentum swings – each team had a 9-0 run – the second half saw little separation of these teams in the upper echelon of the ACC standings.

This crowd of 8,355 helped push the Deacons down the stretch.

“That was really awesome. I think that was easily one of the best crowds we’ve had here this year,” forward Jake LaRavia said. “It was a great atmosphere.”

Earlier this week, Wake Forest deployed a super-sized lineup – Alondes Williams, Damari Monsanto, LaRavia, Khadim Sy and Dallas Walton – and it helped erase a 19-point deficit at Duke. Williams, at 6-5, is the shortest player in that lineup, and the last three players are 6-8, 6-10 and 7-feet, respectively.

A version of that lineup was effective down the stretch against the Irish, with the exception of Isaiah Mucius in Monsanto’s position.

“We call that our big-man lineup. It’s our best defensive lineup,” LaRavia said. “We get to play with each other a lot. We can still switch. It’s a very good lineup to play.”

Mucius’ inclusion proved massive, as the fourth-year wing drilled a critical 3-pointer with 1:19 left.

That was answered immediately by a 3-pointer from Cormac Ryan, but Williams scored on the ensuing possession to put Wake Forest back ahead by four. Ryan got another look in the closing seconds with the margin at three, but his corner 3 from in front of Notre Dame’s bench clanged off the rim and LaRavia came up with the ball in the middle of the court and sank two free throws to ice the game.

Williams, the frontrunner for ACC player of the year, scored 11 of his 23 points in the final eight minutes. The first of those buckets marked the first of five lead changes in a span of less than four minutes, as these teams traded body blows.

Turnovers were, surprise, an issue for Wake Forest in the first half. The Deacons committed nine of them in the first 20 minutes, helping Notre Dame build what was once a 12-point lead.

Wake Forest scored the last six points before halftime, four of them part of LaRavia’s 15-point first-half performance.

The issues were corrected in the second half: Wake Forest committed two turnovers in the second half, as the Deacons went to a motion offense and pounded the ball inside.

“They banged us for nine 3s … the key was we weathered the storm,” Forbes said. “We made some adjustments at halftime. Went to just motion offense. As a result, the ball was zinging around and moving like we’re used to seeing with this team.

“Daivien (Williamson) hit two huge threes to open the second half and get us going.”

Notre Dame was aided by a 9-for-18 clip on 3-pointers in the first half; Wake Forest remained within striking distance thanks to 12 offensive rebounds, which led to 10 second-chance points.