Three days after a narrow loss at No. 8 Duke in tiny yet packed Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Terrapins men’s basketball team hosted Wake Forest in an entirely different atmosphere.

There were about 7,000 empty seats at Comcast Center last night, close to the number of people who can fit in the Blue Devils’ historic gym. The Terps battled a Demon Deacons team riding a five-game losing streak instead of a top-10 opponent. And the Terps sported their traditional home jerseys, opting for a less flashy look after unveiling new Heritage Uniforms in Durham, N.C.

With the change in environment came an extended lull in the first half and some stretches of listless play. But the Terps patched up their issues and avoided a letdown with a 71-60 victory over Wake Forest, ending a two-game losing streak before an announced 10,665.

Guard Nick Faust led the Terps (15-12, 7-7 ACC) with a career-high 20 points off the bench on 7-of-11 shooting as the team extended its winning streak over the Demon Deacons (14-12, 4-9) to eight games. Forward Charles Mitchell, meanwhile, continued his solid interior play, posting 12 points and seven rebounds in his fifth straight start.

Faust’s shooting and Mitchell’s presence inside sparked the Terps, who at times struggled to find an offensive rhythm three days after what coach Mark Turgeon called an “unbelievable game” at Duke.

“Nick was feeling it tonight,” Mitchell said. “My hook shots were dropping, and I think I played well, but Nick was really feeling it from beyond the three-point line.”

Faust shot 4-of-7 from deep and added five rebounds and four assists. By the end of the night, the Terps had five players in double figures, though the team’s leading scorer, guard Dez Wells, had just six points.

Still, it took the Terps a while to recapture their positive play from Saturday night while more than 40 percent of Comcast Center’s red seats remained vacant.

“We had to generate our own energy,” Faust said. “When the fans aren’t there, we usually have to get ourselves going.”

In their first game since the agonizing loss to the Blue Devils, the Terps failed to generate an early spark, and with his team holding a three-point lead less than five minutes into the game, Turgeon subbed out four starters.

The mass substitution backfired as the Demon Deacons scored 11 straight points to pull ahead, 15-7. When Mitchell ended Wake Forest’s run with a reverse lay-in with 9:14 to play in the first half, it marked the Terps’ first points in more than six-and-a-half minutes.

“We didn’t have it early. It was pretty obvious,” Turgeon said. “We just kept fighting, competing.”

Mitchell was the Terps’ only source of offense in the opening few minutes, using his post moves to score six of the team’s first nine points. But after the sophomore snapped the Terps’ long scoring drought, Faust provided some help.

The Terps’ longest-tenured rotation player hit three 3-pointers in the first half, including one with less than five seconds to play, capping a late run that gave the Terps a 30-25 lead at halftime.

“Coaches even tell me, ‘Nick, it’s time to go; you got to bring firepower off the bench,’” Faust said. “Today was an instance where I did.”

Behind Faust and Mitchell, the Terps pushed their lead to 52-38 and eventually held off the Demon Deacons.

The Terps weren’t entirely dominant, though. Wake Forest used an up-tempo offense to score 20 fast-break points on the night and shoot 47.1 percent from the field. Demon Deacons forward Devin Thomas, younger brother of Terps women’s basketball All-American forward Alyssa Thomas, caused trouble for the Terps with 11 points and 15 rebounds.

But with across-the-board contributions — including key plays from freshmen Roddy Peters and Damonte Dodd — the Terps didn’t allow Wake Forest to trim the lead to fewer than six points in the game’s final 13:58.

The Terps didn’t provide the sparse crowd with much to cheer for early, but with Faust and Mitchell leading the way, Turgeon’s team ultimately earned an important win — even if it wasn’t in a game quite as intense as the bout at Cameron Indoor Stadium three days earlier.

“It shows you we’re getting somewhere because we didn’t play particularly well throughout the game, but we still were in control in the second half,” Turgeon said. “You become a good team when you don’t play particularly well and you’re still in control.”

[ READ MORE: MBB: Terps vs. Wake Forest ]