By Joedy McCreary
Associated Press
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. ó Jeff Teague scored 14 points and No. 19 Wake Forest shook off a sloppy first half to beat Winston-Salem State 62-31 on Monday night.
The Demon Deacons (3-0) shot 68 percent in the second half, held the Rams (0-3) to one field goal during a 151/2-minute stretch spanning halftime and forced them into a Joel Coliseum-record scoring low ó the fewest points they’ve allowed since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1953 ó in completing a three-game sweep of instate mid-majors.
Wake Forest, which entered averaging an ACC-best 107 points, finished 45 points below that, but overcame its 23 turnovers by generating 22 takeaways against a team that seemed determined to slow things down with its four-corners offense.
The Demon Deacons held the Rams to a season-low 14 points at halftime ó notable even for a team that has yet to score 50 points in a game. Winston-Salem State shot 28 percent and didn’t score its 20th point until the 121/2-minute mark.
Jamal Durham finished with 14 points, but no other Rams had more than four as they surpassed the 19-year-old arena’s previous scoring low, set by High Point in a 79-35 loss on Dec. 17, 1999.
Teague ó who had five of Wake Forest’s 18 first-half turnovers ó scored the final six points of a 12-0 run that started the second half and pushed the lead into double figures to stay. He capped the burst with about 16 minutes left, when his hanging jumper made it 33-14.
The Demon Deacons made 10 of their first 13 shots after halftime, took a 20-point lead on Teague’s basket with 13 minutes left and stretched the lead to 30 when Al-Farouq Aminu’s three-point play with 71/2 minutes left made it 50-20.
Wake Forest’s strong second half was a stark contrast to the mistake-filled opening 20 minutes, when it was hard to tell which team was in the national rankings and which was a relative newcomer to Division I.
The Demon Deacons had nearly as many turnovers as points (21) at halftime, shot 35 percent and held a seven-point lead over a Rams team that went 10 minutes between field goals.