Tyree Appleby poured in 35 points, including 23 on foul shots, and Damari Monsanto helped ignite a big first half and finished with 16 points as Wake Forest downed North Carolina 92-85 on Tuesday in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Matthew Marsh had 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting off the bench for Wake Forest (16-9, 8-6 Atlantic Coast Conference), which posted a 22-point victory when the Tar Heels visited last season and avenged a road loss from last month.
Appleby went 23-for-28 at the foul line. Appleby made 15 of 16 free-throw attempts in the final two minutes.
Caleb Love shrugged off horrid early shooting to score 24 points and Armando Bacot provided 17 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out with about 3 1/2 minutes left, but North Carolina (15-9, 7-6) couldn't avoid taking its third straight loss. RJ Davis had 16 points and Pete Nance added 11 points.
North Carolina, the country's preseason No. 1 team, went 6-1 in January but has dropped its first three games in February.
Despite trailing by more than 20 points for large chunks of the game, the Tar Heels pulled within 72-62 on Love's jumper with 3:27 to play.
A minute later, Andrew Carr's dunk helped stall North Carolina's comeback.
Wake Forest led 47-25 at halftime, using a couple of significant scoring runs.
The Demon Deacons stretched a 10-9 lead with a 14-0 run. They ended the half with a 13-2 spurt.
Monsanto had 12 points and Appleby had 10 points in the opening half, when the Demon Deacons made five 3-pointers.
Bacot had 13 points at the break, but no other North Carolina player had more than two points. The Tar Heels shot 33.3 percent from the field prior to halftime, going 0-for-5 from 3-point range. Love was 0-for-9 from the floor.
Bacot picked up his third and fourth fouls in a 13-second span within the first three minutes of the second half.
The Tar Heels won 88-79 on Jan. 4 at home against Wake Forest. That was the last time North Carolina shot at least 50 percent from the field.
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