Tormented by Boston College for years, Wake Forest completed a back-to-back payback with yesterday's 93-76 pasting of the Eagles in front of 11,185 at Joel Coliseum.
Jeff Teague piled up 27 points, eight assists and three steals, Al-Farouq Aminu hit eight of nine field-goal attempts for 26 points and James Johnson provided 12 points, 10 rebounds and a tenacious defense as the Deacons bounced back from two straight losses in impressive fashion. The victory was almost as convincing as Wake Forest's 83-63 cakewalk last month at BC.
Even so, L.D. Williams said that the Deacons have yet to settle the score against a BC team that he felt had reveled a bit too much at times in its seven straight victories against Wake Forest.
The Deacons improved to 18-3 and 5-3 in the ACC at the midpoint of the conference race. The Eagles, who had won five straight, tumbled to 18-7 and 6-4.
"It's just a matter of getting tired of the same old, same old, and making a change for yourself," Williams said. "The coaches showed us tapes over and over again of those guys pretty much disrespecting us over the years, laughing at us on the court, talking to us. Pretty much the most disrespectful things that you do on the court, they did it to us.
"We took it to heart. We didn't want to get punked. A big emphasis on the game was ‘Don't get punked.' And we didn't do that."
Wake Forest took control in the final 10 minutes, outscoring the Eagles 14-3 over a four-minute surge. The Deacons shut down BC's flex offense so completely that the Eagles made one of their final nine shots from the floor until a layup by Tyrese Rice with 30 seconds left accounted for the final score.
Wake Forest, which scored on 11 of its final 16 possessions, shot 66 percent from the floor in the second half while holding BC to 38 percent. Joe Trapani, after scoring 15 in the first half, managed four in the second. Rakim Sanders, who was one-for-eight against Wake Forest last month, struggled again against the defense of Johnson and missed all seven of his field-goal attempts.
Coach Al Skinner said after the game that Sanders was slowed by a sprained wrist on his right (shooting) hand. But the defense played by Wake Forest down the stretch was a sight for Coach Dino Gaudio's sore eyes.
The Deacons also outrebounded the Eagles 20-10 in the second half after getting thumped 21-11 on the boards in the first half.
"In the second half they only had four second-chance points, which was really hurting us in the first half," Gaudio said.
"And we did a terrific job on the defensive end of the floor, holding them to 29 points and (38) percent on field goals. The biggest thing about that is they had six threes at half and they had none in the second half.
"We made an adjustment at halftime. Farouq was on Trapani in the first half, so we put L.D. on him. And anytime there was a ball screen we switched it. I thought the kids did a great job of making that adjustment and executing it like we wanted to."
Johnson said that there was another reason for the Deacons' defensive improvement in the second half.
"You get a different kind of coaches' talk at halftime than you do before the first half," Johnson said. "And our guys responded. So it was cool."
Rice, a first-team All-ACC guard last season, returned from an injury to his lower leg to play the final nine minutes but finished with seven field goals on 17 attempts for 18 points -- his second-lowest total in six games against the Deacons.
Teague defended him much of the time, but reserve Ish Smith was particularly effective in hawking Rice all over the court.
Rice finished with six turnovers.
"Some games I might need to score 15," Smith said. "Some games I might need to have 12 assists. But (yesterday) I knew that Tyrese was the key. It's kind of like a snake. If you cut the head off a snake, he's dead.
"That's what we tried to do. He's still a heck of a player and he still made some terrific shots, but we did that and we got a win."
Teague changed his game after scoring 21 points in the first half. In the second half he attempted four shots from the floor but compensated by dishing out seven of his eight assists. Aminu filled the scoring void, hitting all eight of his field-goal attempts in the second half for 21 points.
If they accomplish nothing else this season, the Deacons have broken whatever jinx BC had on them. The Eagles, since joining the ACC for the 2005-06 season, had won four games by an average margin of 17.5 points.
"They try to bully you and impose their will on you," Smith said. "They kind of look at Wake Forest like ‘They're pretty boys who try to push it up and down the court and try to throw alley-oops.'
"They were 7-0 before this year, so it feels good to get these two wins. But all this was was another win in the ACC, and now we've got N.C. State next."
■ Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.
BOSTON COLLEGE
Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS
Raji 40 4-5 6-9 4-7 3 3 14
Trapani 33 6-8 4-5 1-3 3 1 19
Southern 28 4-4 4-4 3-6 2 4 12
Rice 30 7-17 1-2 2-6 0 4 18
Sanders 22 0-7 1-3 0-1 0 4 1
Jackson 13 2-8 0-0 1-1 0 2 4
Paris 15 1-4 4-4 0-1 5 1 6
Roche 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Dunn 12 0-1 2-2 2-4 0 3 2
Totals 200 24-55 22-29 15-31 13 23 76
Percentages: FG .436, FT .759. 3-Point Goals: 6-21, .286 (Trapani 3-5, Rice 3-7, Roche 0-1, Paris 0-1, Sanders 0-3, Jackson 0-4). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 1 (Trapani). Turnovers: 15 (Rice 6, Paris 2, Sanders 2, Southern 2, Dunn, Jackson, Raji). Steals: 9 (Rice 3, Southern 2, Raji, Dunn, Trapani, Paris). Technical Fouls: None.
WAKE FOREST
Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS
Aminu 36 8-9 9-11 1-7 1 3 26
Johnson 32 5-11 2-3 4-10 2 3 12
McFarland 22 0-5 2-2 0-4 0 3 2
Teague 38 6-12 11-12 0-3 8 3 27
Williams 29 5-7 0-0 0-1 2 3 11
Clark 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0
Hale 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Smith 23 3-4 1-1 0-1 3 0 7
Walker 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Weaver 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Woods 12 4-5 0-1 3-3 0 3 8
Totals 200 31-54 25-30 10-31 16 22 93
Percentages: FG .574, FT .833. 3-Point Goals: 6-11, .545 (Teague 4-6, Aminu 1-1, Williams 1-2, McFarland 0-1, Johnson 0-1). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 4 (Johnson 2, Woods, Williams). Turnovers: 12 (Teague 5, Johnson 3, Woods, McFarland, Aminu, Smith). Steals: 9 (Teague 3, Smith 2, Johnson 2, McFarland, Aminu).
Technical Fouls: None.
Boston College 47 29 -- 76
Wake Forest 46 47 -- 93
A--11,185.
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