Not much was working for Clemson Saturday afternoon against Wake Forest, but when it needed a play in the final 23 seconds the Tigers found a way to win the game.

Josh Smith followed Rod Hall’s missed layup with 0.5 seconds to play as Clemson rallied from a 12-point second half deficit for a 59-57 victory at Littlejohn Coliseum.

The winning play was set up when Hall punched the ball away from Wake’s Codi Miller-McIntyre with 25 seconds to play. It looked as if the Demon Deacons had a chance to hold the ball for the last shot when Devin Thomas tracked down his own missed free throw with the game tied at 57. Thomas had a chance to give Wake the lead with two free throws with 33 seconds left in the game.

Following the Hall steal, Clemson set up for the winning shot as it rotated the ball around the perimeter before Hall drove the lane for the winning shot. But his layup went in and out of the cylinder and Smith was there to clean things up for the winning basket.

Clemson finally tied the game at 49 with 7:05 to play when Smith sealed the baseline for Blossomgame who slammed home the tying points. But Thomas scored six of the Demon Deacons next eight points to grab leads of 53-49 and 55-51.

But the Tigers (11-8, 3-4 ACC) kept fighting back as freshman Donte Grantham scored five straight points and Jordan Roper made two free throws with 1:33 to play to tie the game. Grantham then made one free throw with 58.6 seconds to play to give the Tigers a 57-56 lead. It was their first lead of the game.

The Tigers trailed by as many as 12 points, 40-28, when Thomas made a jumper with16:35 to go. But on the Tigers ensuing possession Grantham drove the baseline for two points, Roper got a steal and dunk and then Grantham knocked down a three-pointer to pull the Tigers within five at 40-35 with 15:34 to go.

Wake (9-11, 1-6 ACC) again answered the Clemson run as Konstantinos Mitoglu hit a three from the right corner. The Tigers had three straight possessions to cut into the lead but they failed to take advantage of those opportunities.

The Tigers trailed Wake Forest 33-27 at the break despite Blossomgame playing just five minutes due to foul trouble.

The Demon Deacons jumped out to a 13-2 lead as the Tigers missed five of their first six shots. But Clemson slowly worked its way back and cut the lead to two points, 24-22, on a Roper three-pointer from the left corner with 4:13 to go.

But Wake went on a 7-0 run on two Devin Thomas free throws and a layup and a Mitoglu three from the right wing. The run gave the Demon Deacons a 31-22 lead with 2:22 to play in the opening half.

Clemson rallied again just before the end of the half and cut the lead to six points by scoring five of the last seven points.

Roper led the Tigers with eight first-half points.