'Superman' pays a visit

James Johnson delivered his signature performance to date at Wake Forest and that was all she wrote for N.C. State.

Johnson, a 6-9 sophomore from Cheyenne, Wyo., soared to career highs of 28 points and 18 rebounds to lift the 13th-ranked Deacons to an 85-78 victory over N.C. State in front of 14,108 at Joel Coliseum. Johnson made 12 of 16 shots from the floor and pulled down 15 defensive rebounds to help the Deacons forge a 42-27 advantage on the backboards.

"He was like Superman tonight," teammates L.D. Williams said. "Just give him the ball and something good would happen."

Johnson did his damage early, scoring eight points in a 16-2 surge that gave Wake Forest a 39-24 first-half lead.

And he did even more damage late, scoring two baskets in rapid succession to finally break the momentum that N.C. State had ridden back into the game.

Wake Forest, which has won three of its past four, improved to 21-5 and 8-5 in ACC play going into Saturday's game at Virginia. N.C. State fell to 15-11 and 5-8 going into Wednesday's home game against Maryland.

"James has been a warrior for us the last couple of games," Coach Dino Gaudio of Wake Forest said. "He's been outstanding. He's the barometer for our team.

"The last three games the assistant (coaches) have come back and said the team has warmed up hard and is ready to go. He's the first guy they talk about.

"When he's ready to go, he plays well. I was proud of him tonight."

With leading scorer Jeff Teague struggling for the second straight game against N.C. State, and with Al-Farouq Aminu yet to emerge from his freshman slump, the Deacons needed strong contributions from center Chas McFarland and Ish Smith in support of Johnson.

McFarland came through with 15 points and eight rebounds, scoring more than nine points for the first time since the Deacons' victory at Boston College on Jan. 14.

"I feel I haven't stopped working, even though I haven't been playing real well the last couple of weeks," McFarland said. "I feel like every good player goes through slumps. You've just got to fight through it. The good ones don't quit, and it'll come back."

And Smith, who nailed two of the game's biggest baskets, hit 6 of 8 shots from the floor and chipped in 18 points. His 3-pointer from the left wing as the shot clock expired gave the Deacons a 38-24 lead with five minutes left in the half. But the one that did sent the Wolfpack reeling came with six minutes remaining in the game, when his 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock answered a 3-pointer by Courtney Fells and pushed Wake Forest's lead back to 70-61.

Tracy Smith led N.C. State with 18 points, but it was the surprising play of a much-maligned backcourt that kept the Wolfpack in the game. Starter Javier Gonzalez contributed eight points and six assists in 22 minutes and Farnold Degand had 12 points and five rebounds.

The Wolfpack committed only eight turnovers.

"I thought our guards did a great job of getting by them and getting into the gut of the defense and taking care of the basketball" Coach Sidney Lowe of N.C. State said. "That was one of the reasons we were able to stay in the game, because we took care of the ball."

The Wolfpack, after whittling a 15-point lead to 43-35 by halftime, outscored the Deacons 9-3 in the opening minutes of the second half to pull as close as two at 46-44. N.C. State trailed by only two four times in the second half, the latest at 54-52 with 12 minutes left, but was still as close as three after a dunk by Smith with nine minutes remaining.

Although Wake Forest extended the lead back to nine three times, the Wolfpack was good for one more rally. Dennis Horner and Fells hit back-to-back 3-pointers to pull N.C. State to 74-71 with 2 ½ minutes left.

But Wake Forest had an answer, and his name was Johnson. Driving on Brandon Costner, Johnson scored a layup from the lane with two minutes left that pushed the lead back to five.

After Degand missed a rushed shot for the Wolfpack, Smith pushed the ball up court and lobbed it toward the rim. Johnson caught it at its apex and dunked it as he was coming down for a 78-71 lead with a minute remaining.

Wake Forest put the game away by seven of eight free throws in the final 55 seconds.

"It was fun playing out there tonight," Johnson said. "It could have been one of my best, for sure.

"I've just been building up. My game has been improving. It was just time for me to come out and show some of the stuff I've been working on. It's been working for me. It worked in the Georgia Tech game and it worked in the Duke game and this game.

"So I'm just going to continue to work hard and put it in my performance when I play."

Williams called Johnson's performance his best at Wake Forest, though Teague was more impressed with Johnson's play last season at home against Florida State, when he had 26 points and nine rebounds.

Center Ben McCauley of N.C. State hasn't seen Johnson play nearly as often, but he was impressed with what he saw from close range last night.

"Johnson played a great game; give him a lot of credit," McCauley said. "He held that team together. He was the glue that held them together I think. Usually it's Teague, but Johnson, he played a great game on both ends of the floor.

"When you've got a guy playing that well it's tough to beat."

■ Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.

N.C. STATE Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF PT

TSmith 20 7-11 4-4 1-4 0 2 18

Costner 36 4-13 0-0 0-7 4 3 10

McCauley 34 6-9 0-1 3-8 2 1 12

Fells 23 3-8 0-0 1-2 0 3 8

Gonzalez 22 3-7 0-0 0-0 6 3 8

Degand 19 5-8 2-4 0-1 5 2 12

Williams 24 0-5 0-0 0-0 1 2 0

Horner 22 3-4 2-2 1-3 1 3 10

Totals 200 31-65 8-11 7-27 19 19 78

Percentages: FG .477, FT .727. 3-Point Goals: 8-23, .348 (Fells 2-3, Horner 2-3, Gonzalez 2-5, Costner 2-6, Williams 0-3, Degand 0-3). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 3 (Costner 3). Turnovers: 8 (Gonzalez 3, Degand 2, Williams, Costner, Fells). Steals: 6 (McCauley 2, Fells, Williams, Horner, Costner). Technical Fouls: None.

WFU Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF PT

Aminu 24 0-6 3-4 3-8 1 1 3

McFarland 29 7-9 1-2 4-8 0 3 15

Johnson 33 12-16 4-5 3-18 2 1 28

Teague 33 3-12 6-7 0-2 4 1 12

Williams 29 1-4 0-0 0-0 3 2 2

Clark 16 2-5 0-0 1-1 0 0 5

Smith 25 6-8 4-4 1-2 1 1 18

Weaver 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Woods 9 1-1 0-0 0-2 0 1 2

Totals 200 32-61 18-22 13-42 11 10 85

Percentages: FG .525, FT .818. 3-Point Goals: 3-13, .231 (Smith 2-3, Clark 1-3, Johnson 0-1, Teague 0-3, Aminu 0-3). Team Rebounds: 1. Blocked Shots: 5 (McFarland 2, Teague, Woods, Johnson). Turnovers: 12 (McFarland 4, Teague 3, Johnson 2, Aminu, Smith, Williams). Steals: 3 (McFarland, Aminu, Williams). Technical Fouls: None.

N.C. State 35 43 -- 78
Wake Forest 43 42 -- 85

A--14,108