The freshman guard played beyond his years, shooting with the confidence of a seasoned veteran and scoring a game-high 24 points in an 87-64 ACC men’s basketball victory over visiting Wake Forest.

“I don’t even think of him as a freshman anymore,” senior teammate Ed Cota said after UNC (7-4, 16-9 overall) shot 65 percent from the floor in the second half and took over second place in the league standings. “He’s come along so quick. I couldn’t tell you how many ways he’s helped this team.”

Forte, still six weeks shy of his 19th birthday, shot 9-for-14 from the field — including 6-for-8 from three-point range — as the Tar Heels earned their fifth win in the past six games. They trail conference-leading Duke by three games with five to play.

“The regular-season title may be out of reach, but they certainly can win the tournament,” said Wake coach Dave Odom. “They’re a team that has a handle on things. They’ve got a lot of answers and they are playing good enough to make a run at the championship.”

Wake, meanwhile, has lost its grip and will have to fight for its postseason life. After racing to an 11-4 start this year the Demon Deacons hit a bad patch, dropping seven of their last nine and tumbling into seventh place at 4-7 in the league and 13-11 overall.

“This doesn’t feel good at all,” said Wake guard Robert O’Kelley. “The positioning is starting to look like the past couple years. And we’re in a little bit of trouble.”

They can blame Forte, a human highlight film who scored 16 second-half points. There was his 3-pointer from deep in the right corner that tied the score 43-43 with 13:49 to play. A minute later he nailed another from the same spot as UNC went up by a point. Then came a decisive 9-0 run capped by Forte’s trey from the top of the key that put the Heels up 55-47.

“Usually freshmen don’t want to go out there and start shooting all the time,” said Forte, the league’s ninth-leading scorer entering play. “Especially with this team, wearing this uniform. But I was feeling it today. My teammates kept finding me and they know I’m good for it.”

So was teammate Brendan Haywood, who turned in his second consecutive solid performance. The 7-foot junior from Greensboro was the best pure marksman on the court, sinking 9-of-10 field goal attempts and finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

“I try to take what the game gives me,” he said. “Today we were hitting from the outside so they had to step away from the basket and pay attention to other people. That left me a lot of short, open looks. In the second half we were scoring at will and they couldn’t stop us.”

Carolina broke the game open after Darius Songalia’s free throw drew the Deacs within 60-56 with 7:31 remaining. The Heels closed on a 27-8 spurt, including yet another home run ball from Forte.

“I couldn’t understand why they left him open three, four, five times in a row,” said Cota, who contributed 13 assists. “He’s the best shooter on this team.”

UNCwill shoot for its first four-game winning streak of the season when it plays host to Virginia a week from today.

“We’re finally living up to our billing,” Haywood said after UNC avenged last month’s nine-point loss to Wake in Winston-Salem. “We came on offensively and got ourselves a good, quality ACC win.”

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