Deacons enter postseason on a roll

No. 10 Wake Forest will hit the ACC Tournament carrying a full head of steam after blowing past No. 18 Clemson 96-88 in yesterday's final game of the regular season at Joel Coliseum.

Forwards James Johnson and Al-Farouq Aminu combined for 42 points and 19 rebounds, center Chas McFarland had 14 points and eight rebounds and guards Jeff Teague and Ish Smith combined for 28 points and nine assists as the Deacons improved to 24-5 and clinched second place with their sixth victory in the last seven games.

And they looked good doing it, as least offensively, as they shot 65 percent from the floor in the second half and 60 percent for the game and outrebounded the Tigers 38-26.

"We're rolling right now," Teague said. "We're playing good basketball.

"But we as a team feel we haven't played our best yet. I feel like it's coming up."

Wake Forest and Duke both finished 11-5 in conference play, and the teams split during the regular season. But the Deacons got the tie-breaker because of their Jan. 11 victory against North Carolina, which beat the Blue Devils yesterday to sweep the series.

So the Deacons avoided having to play the final game of Friday's quarterfinals, and instead will play the winner of the first-round game between No. 7 Maryland and No. 10 N.C. State at 7 p.m. on Friday.

"For us to play like we did in the second half was pretty special," Smith said. "We got the win and it feels good to finish in second place in this league."

Wake Forest piled up 82 points against Clemson without the need of a jump shot, scoring 58 in the lane and making 24 of 30 free throws. Many of the field goals were scored in the open court, behind Clemson's bread-and-butter pressure defense.

The Tigers did force 19 turnovers, and were proficient enough offensively to build a 44-34 first-half lead. But the Deacons closed to 44-40 by halftime and then proceeded to score on 27 of 39 second-half possessions to take the lead for good on Aminu's dunk that he converted into a three-point play with 11 1/2 minutes remaining.

"We think it's an insult that teams would try to press us because of the guards we have, and everybody can handle the ball just about," McFarland said. "So we tried the take advantage of what they were trying to do. A lot of our shots came at the rim."

Whereas Aminu scored 12 of his 21 points in the first half, Johnson saved his best for later. Rising to the occasion after Teague picked up his fourth foul with 12:40 remaining, Johnson scored 17 of his 21 points and pulled down six of his nine rebounds in the second half.

"J.T. went out and I wanted to be more aggressive," Johnson said. "I told Ish ‘Give me the ball. I'm going to drive more. I'm going to get to the bucket for us.' And you know he's not one of those guards who goes ‘It's my team. I'm running it.'

"He got me the ball and I was attacking the rim and getting it in."

Teague sat out seven minutes in the second half because of foul trouble, but still played well enough to make amends for a shaky first half. The Tigers built their early lead mainly on the play of sophomore Demontez Stitt, who made six of nine field-goal attempts in the first half and had 15 points by halftime.

Wake Forest responded by sliding under the ball screens Stitt was using to get to the basket and by challenging Teague at halftime. Teague scored 10 points in the second half to finish with 15, whereas Stitt made two of just five field-goal attempts and scored six after halftime.

Stitt and K.C. Rivers led the Tigers with 21 points each.

"He came out in the first half and he was aggressive," Teague said. " He got some quick fouls on us.

"But when I went into the locker room Coach (Mike) Muse pulled me to the side and said ‘There's no way you're going to let him outplay you like that. There's no way. It's not even comparable.' So I took it as a challenge to come out and play better."

Head coach Dino Gaudio also had the right words for Smith, who missed practice on Friday and Saturday while ill. Smith said he woke up yesterday feeling much better, and he proved instrumental in blowing through the Tigers' press.

He finished with 13 points, six rebounds and six assists in 24 minutes.

"(Gaudio) sent me a text (Saturday) night and said ‘Ish are you feeling all right?' " Smith related. "I thought ‘I'm feeling good Coach.' "So he said ‘We'll see how tough you are tomorrow.' I said. ‘Yes sir, you will see.' "

Although Harvey Hale was the only scholarship senior recognized on Senior Day, there has been rampant speculation that some of the Deacons' underclassmen may opt for professional basketball after this season. Yesterday, sophomores James Johnson and Jeff Teague both said they plan to return for next season.

"No it's not my last home game," Teague said. "I've got two more years here.

"It's not my last home game."

Johnson, who will turn 23 before next season's ACC Tournament, said he has plenty of reasons to return for a junior season.

"That's definitely my plans," Johnson said. "We want to win.

"I love these guys. I hope they love me, too. We've got a great chemistry. I just want to be one of those powerhouse college teams and know what it feels like to be on top.

"Right now we're just thinking about winning and who we play first on Friday."

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

CLEMSON Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Booker 33 7-14 4-4 4-10 0 2 18

Sykes 17 0-0 0-0 1-4 0 4 0

Rivers 34 8-12 0-0 0-1 1 2 21

Stitt 29 8-14 4-6 0-1 3 3 21

Oglesby 26 3-11 0-0 1-2 1 5 9

Anderson 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Smith 14 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 3 2

Young 14 2-5 1-2 0-0 4 0 6

Potter 13 2-4 0-0 0-1 1 4 5

Narcisse 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Grant 20 2-3 2-3 1-3 1 2 6

Totals 200 33-65 11-15 10-26 13 25 88

Percentages: FG .508, FT .733. 3-Point Goals: 11-27, .407 (Rivers 5-8, Oglesby 3-8, Stitt 1-3, Potter 1-3, Young 1-4, Smith 0-1). Team Rebounds: 4. Blocked Shots: 5 (Booker 3, Grant 2). Turnovers: 16 (Stitt 5, Sykes 4, Booker 3, Smith, Young, Rivers, Potter). Steals: 10 (Stitt 3, Rivers 2, Smith, Oglesby, Booker, Sykes, Potter). Technical Fouls: None.

WFU Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Johnson 35 10-14 0-0 3-9 3 2 21

Williams 33 2-5 1-1 0-0 4 1 5

McFarland 26 2-4 10-12 3-8 0 2 14

Teague 27 5-7 2-2 1-1 3 4 15

Hale 12 0-2 0-0 0-1 0 1 0

Aminu 30 7-10 7-9 3-10 1 3 21

Clark 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Smith 24 5-10 3-4 2-4 6 1 13

Lepore 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Weaver 7 1-2 1-2 0-3 0 2 3

Hoekstra 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Woods 3 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 4

Totals 200 34-57 24-30 13-38 17 17 96

Percentages: FG .596, FT .800. 3-Point Goals: 4-10, .400 (Teague 3-5, Johnson 1-2, Clark 0-1, Hale 0-2). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 2 (Aminu 2). Turnovers: 19 (Teague 5, Johnson 4, Aminu 3, Smith 3, Williams 3, McFarland). Steals: 8 (Williams 3, Teague 2, Smith, Johnson, McFarland). Technical Fouls: None.

Clemson 44 44 -- 88
Wake Forest 40 56 -- 96

A--14,665.