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TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- Marquis Daniels knows what to do at the end of games.

Daniels scored seven of his 18 points in the final two minutes to help No. 10 Auburn finish its 68-62 upset of No. 2 Wake Forest in the second round of the East Region.

Auburn (22-11) will play Syracuse Friday night in the regional semifinals.

Daniels, who sparked an overtime rally for the Tigers in their win against Saint Joseph's in the first round, gave Auburn a 59-54 lead on a follow shot with 1:51 left. The basket snapped a 2:12 stretch during which neither team scored.

"He made some big plays and scored some big points," Auburn guard Derrick Bird said.

Auburn took its first lead at 51-49 on a 3-pointer by Lewis Monroe with 7:44 left. The Tigers never trailed again as Wake Forest (25-6) hit only one basket during a run of nearly 11 minutes late in the second half.

"We missed shots and threw the ball away," Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said. "We were not poised down the stretch. It was there to be won, but we failed to execute."

After Josh Howard made a shot in the paint with 11:16 left to put Wake Forest up 48-46, the Demon Deacons were outscored 13-3 over the next 7:13 and never recovered.

"We didn't capitalize on our offensive possessions," Howard said. "We basically turned the ball over a lot and that's what happened."

Freshman Justin Gray's 3-pointer with 4:03 left brought the Demon Deacons within 57-54. But Daniels scored seven of the game's next nine points to help put away the game as the Tigers defeated the Demon Deacons for the first time since 1968.

Gray led the Demon Deacons with a season-high 26 points, 15 in the first half. Howard, the All-America forward, had 14 points and seven rebounds in his final collegiate game.

"It hurts," Howard said. "I had my opportunities and didn't capitalize. My teammates... will always be my family."

Auburn earned its first trip to the regional semifinals since 1999 and will meet No. 3 Syracuse on Friday. The Tigers and Orangemen have never met.

"I have a lot of respect for Eddie Sutton," Auburn coach Cliff Ellis said. "But I would rather be playing Oklahoma State than Syracuse in Albany (New York)."

The Tigers, who shot 35 percent on 3-pointers this season, won despite shooting just 21 percent (4-of-19), including 1-of-9 in the second half. Monroe shot 2-of-5 from beyond the arc on his way to scoring 12 points.

Marco Killingsworth and Brandon Robinson added 11 points apiece for Auburn, which shot 43 percent (24-of-56) from the field. Killingsworth led the Tigers with eight rebounds.

Wake Forest shot only 27 percent (7-of-26) from the field in the second half and 37 percent (18-of-49) for the game.

Taron Downey, who got the Demon Deacons within 66-62 with 13 seconds left before a pair of free throws by Monroe finished the scoring, had nine points.