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Teague, Wake Forest cruise past Winston-Salem

Nov 25, 2008 - 5:01 AM WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Jeff Teague scored 14 points as No. 24 Wake Forest had very few issues in posting a 62-31 victory over Winston-Salem State on Monday.

James Johnson had seven points and nine rebounds for the Demon Deacons (3-0), who won easily despite committing a season-high 23 turnovers, including 18 in the first half.

"I think we didn't come out mentally ready to play and that's on me," Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio said. "That's my fault. We told them that Winston-Salem State plays against you in the summer and they're not going to be intimidated in anyway shape or form - and they weren't."

The sophomore Teague was charged with five of those miscues, nearly wiping out the six assists he handed out.

Despite the turnover issues, Teague had 10 of his points after the break, including the final six on a 12-0 run that started the second half and gave Wake Forest a 33-14 lead with 15:57 to play.

"We became more aggressive with the ball," Teague said about the improvements in the second half. "We were passive in the beginning and they came out ready to fight. (In the) second half, we sped up the game and I think that made us more aggressive."

The Rams (0-2) did not record their first points after intermission until there was 4:55 expired, and finished 13-of-45 (29 percent) en route to their lowest point total of the season.

Early on, Winston-Salem State had a great deal of success controlling the tempo of the game, intentionally slowing it down by going into the four corners. It worked as Wake Forest only had a 13-12 lead with just over seven minutes left in the first half.

"I thought (in the) first half we did a very good job containing their dribble penetration and their transition buckets," Rams coach Bobby Collins said. "We had a game plan to slow them down a little bit. We thought if we slowed them down we would have a chance to be in the game offensively."

However, the Demon Deacons went on an 8-2 run over the rest of the first half to take a 21-14 lead at intermission.

David Weaver scored eight points and freshman Al-Farouq Aminu added six and eight boards for Wake Forest, which shot 52 percent (22-of-42) from the field in extending its winning streak against non-conference foes at home to 47.

The poor point total for the Demon Deacons came just five days after they put up triple digits in a 120-88 over UNC Wilmington last Wednesday. Yet, the 31 total points by the Rams was the lowest allowed by Wake Forest since the 1947-48 season.

Jamal Durham scored 14 points for Winston-Salem State, which dropped to 0-3 all-time against Wake Forest.