Pack outruns Deacs

Raleigh, NC - Basketball is a game of runs, and NC State (17-7, 6-3 ACC) bludgeoned Wake Forest (11-12, 2-7 ACC) with four major scoring spurts on its way to an 87-76 win to complete a regular season sweep of the Demon Deacons.

Wake engineered two solid runs of its own for a combined 39-16 surge, but NC State's four totaled out to a commanding 56-8 edge.

"You take away those runs, we outscored them by 19," Wake Forest head coach Jeff Bzdelik said. "They had too many runs on us. There was a period where we didn't get back well at all. They were able to fuel their offense through transition. Our lack of transition defense there for a few minutes definitely made a difference."

Wherever the Wolfpack set a screen Scott Wood was nearby and ready to fire from downtown. The junior from Indiana burned the nets for 23 points on 6-10 shoot from three-point range.

"Scott Wood made some very big shots very big shots," NC State head coach Mark Gottfried said. "Scott was pretty good in just about every facet. It was great was great to see him get in the groove where everybody in the gym started to think that every shot he took was going in."

The Deacs took a gut punch early when an intentional foul was called on Daniel Green for pushing C.J. Leslie in the back. Leslie still managed to dunk it, make the two free throws and C.J. Williams added a three-pointer to complete a seven-point possession that gave the Wolfpack an 11-7 advantage at the 15:40 mark of the first half.

In the second half Wake Forest saw a seven-point deficit go to 11 when Wood made the free-throw after getting fouled on a made three-point attempt with 10:04 remaining in the game.

"He's pretty difficult [to defend]," Wake Forest guard C.J. Harris said. "He knows how to come off screens. He's 6-5, 6-6, so even if you're there he can still really get his jump-shot off. He's a tough guy to guard."

Harris scored 21 points to lead five Demon Deacons in double digits, but that was canceled out by State's five double-figure scorers. A positive Wake can take away from this game is a 25-point swing from the 36-point loss it suffered to the Pack in Winston-Salem two weeks ago. Some others would be its 13-12 edge in second-chance points, and shooting 50-percent from the field after a 29.6-percent effort in Tuesday's 68-53 loss to No. 5 North Carolina.