In the buildup to Saint Joseph's Sweet 16 matchup with Wake Forest, the Hawks' head coach had insisted that for his team to win, stars Jameer Nelson and Delonte West would have to be complemented by others.

Enter Pat Carroll, Tyrone Barley, and Chet Stachitas.

They made big plays at both ends of the floor, helping to propel the Hawks to a nerve-wracking 84-80 win early Friday morning at Continental Airlines Arena, leaving them just one victory away from college basketball's Promised Land, the Final Four.

The Hawks (30-1) will face No. 2 Oklahoma State, a 63-51 winner over Pitt, in the Elite Eight at 7:05 p.m. Saturday, with the winner advancing to San Antonio next weekend.

"That was a high-level game," Martelli said. "Really a terrific win -- great support, great performance. It's hard to play against [Wake Forest coach] Skip Prosser. He's a close personal friend, but you have to do what you have to do in this situation."

While Nelson and West each scored 24 points, Carroll poured in 17 on 6-for-8 shooting, including a game-high five 3-pointers, to provide the extra firepower to which Martelli had referred.

"Once I got the chance to penetrate, they were leaving him wide open," Nelson said. "For him it's like a layup. Once he gets rolling, he's unguardable."

"They're not really like layups," Carroll demurred. "We just do a lot of shooting in practice. When you have an open opportunity with these guys penetrating, that gives guys like Tyrone and myself the chance to be open. You should knock them down when you're wide open."

As for the much-ballyhooed Chris Paul, the Demon Deacon's sensational freshman guard, he became virtually a nonfactor from the moment Tyrone Barley checked into the game early in the first half and blanketed him on defense. Paul finished with a quiet 12 points, while Barley contributed 13, hitting four huge treys in the process.

"I give a lot of credit to Barley," Paul said. "He was really aggressive on me. He never gave me the opportunity to push the ball up the court as I usually do. He was into me, turning me, and I give a lot of credit to him."

As against Texas Tech in the second round, the Hawks had to overcome a 9-point deficit in the first half. Saint Joseph's began the game with shots that would not fall, and allowed Wake Forest (21-10) too many easy entries into the lane. But as he had against the Red Raiders, West hit key shot after key shot to pull SJU into the lead.

The Demon Deacons fought back to take a 1-point halftime lead. The two teams traded buckets early in the second half, but the Hawks grabbed the lead for good with 17:29 to go. They were up by as much as 10 and looked to have things well in hand, leading by 8 with 1:06 left, when their game-long inconsistency from the free throw line and a rare carelessness with the ball allowed Wake to draw to within 2 with 43.6 seconds left.

Nelson then drove the lane and missed a layup. Stachitas, trailing the play, found himself all alone after the defense had collapsed on Nelson, and went up for the easy put-back. "We had them spread out," Martelli noted. "When you spread them out, Chet Stachitas made a basketball play. And that's what we ask those guys to do."

Saint Joseph's then made its remaining free throws to seal the win.

"We had some mental lapses late in the game," West conceded. "All throughout the tournament we've been finishing strong, but we made some careless mistakes, preventable turnovers. We're going to celebrate right now, but we have to get right back to business. We have to tighten up."

Justin Gray led Wake Forest with 23 points while Eric Williams chipped in 19. The Demon Deacons had great success getting the ball down low to Williams, who got both Dwayne Jones and John Bryant into foul trouble early. Bryant, in fact, played a huge portion of the second half with four fouls while Jones sat on the bench with the same amount.

"I want to congratulate St. Joe and Phil's kids," Prosser said. "They have had a marvelous year. Without watching every one of their game tapes, they probably did to us what they've done to 29 other teams -- just shot the three extremely well."

The game, played so close to Philadelphia, included a large contingent of Hawk fans. Also in the house were comedian Bill Cosby and filmmaker Spike Lee. "They had a great crowd," said the Demon Deacons' Taron Downey. "They showed their fan support. And they fed off it and came out with the win."

Nelson's three steals give him 252 for his career, shattering Jeffrey Clark's record of 250. The Hawks will need another special game out of him Saturday against an Oklahoma State team that is very talented. But during this transcendent season, nothing has seemed impossible. "The experts say we can't rebound," Martelli said. "We can't, we can't, we can't, and we just keep winning.

"To me, it's about those kids and how tough they've been and how much they look forward to playing basketball. It's not about sticking our chest out. Enough is enough. We're 30-1 and in the Elite Eight. We're one of the best teams in college basketball, and that should be celebrated."