NC State
Wake Forest
Men's Basketball Dominates at Wake Forest, 76-40
1/14/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2012
Box Score | Box Score 
Winston-Salem, N.C. - For the second straight year, NC State waltzed all over the Demon Deacons on their own home court. Last year was a 25-point road win, and this year was not much different, as the Pack (13-5, 2-1 ACC) led from start to finish in defeating Wake Forest, 76-40, Saturday afternoon in Winston-Salem.
The 36-point win marks the second-biggest ACC road win in school history, with only a 40-point win at Clemson in 1954 ranking higher. NC State has now won four straight over Wake Forest, and 8 of the last 11 overall.
Lorenzo Brown led four Wolfpack players in double figures with game-highs of 20 points and six assists. Richard Howell recorded his fifth double-double in the last seven games with 12 points and 12 rebounds, while C.J. Williams (15 points) and Scott Wood(12 points) also reached double figures.
Wake Forest had offensive troubles throughtout the game. Wake was just 6-of-24 (25.0 percent) from the field, including a 1-of-12 mark from three-point range in the first half. A total of nine first-half turnovers also attributed to just 17 points in the first 20 minutes for the Demon Deacons, as the Pack was up comfortably 33-17 at the break.
NC State scored the game's first five points and went up 11-4 at the first media timeout.
The Deacons hit just two of their first nine shot attempts, including missing all four of their three-point attempts in the first five minutes. In contrast, NC State was hot from long range to start hitting 4-of-6 from long range to start the game.
Both squads hit the offensive wall midway through the first half, as the score remained 19-10 for over four minutes. But the Pack closed the first half like it started the game, with a 10-2 run thanks to six straight from Brown.
The second half was much of the same as the first, with NC State building its lead to as many as 39 points late in the game. The Pack outscored Wake 43-23 in the second half, and the 40 points by Wake was the lowest for a Pack opponent since 29 for NC Central in 2008, and the fewest for an ACC foe since 28 points by Maryland in the 1982 ACC Tournament.
For the first time in the last 11 games, the Pack had a change in the starting lineup. Junior DeShawn Painter got his seventh starting nod of the season, replacing C.J. Leslie. Painter finished the game with seven points and a career-high 12 rebounds, his third double-figure rebounding game of the season.
With the win, Mark Gottfried becomes the first coach in school history to win his first ACC road game, the seven previous coaches that coached in the ACC all lost their first road contest in conference play.
NC State has not opened up ACC play 2-1 since the 2005-06 season, when the Pack started 3-1.
The Pack will return to home action Thursday night, as Boston College comes to the RBC Center.
