NC State extends best ACC start in 20 years with win over Wake Forest

Paul McNeil Jr. poured in 28 points and Darrion Williams racked up 20 as North Carolina State won its fourth consecutive game to continue its best start in Atlantic Coast Conference play in 20 years by beating host Wake Forest 96-78 on Saturday afternoon in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Ven-Allen Lubin's 12 points and Tre Holloman's 11 points also boosted the Wolfpack (16-6, 7-2 ACC), who also defeated Wake Forest at the start of ACC play on Dec. 31. Quadir Copeland distributed 10 assists to go with eight points on Saturday.

NC State shot 16-for-28 on 3-point shots, with McNeil hitting six and Williams providing five.

Juke Harris posted 31 points, but Wake Forest (11-11, 2-7) lost its fourth game in a row. Omaha Biliew had 12 points. The Demon Deacons shot 21 of 24 from the free-throw line.

Williams reached the 20-point mark for the fourth time in a seven-game span.

After rolling for much of the first half, NC State had trouble shaking free in the second half until an 8-0 spurt pushed the margin to 89-70 on a pair of McNeil foul shots.

The Wolfpack made seven of their first 11 shots from 3-point range. NC State's halftime lead was 49-31 with Williams and McNeil both with 14 points, while Harris had 15 for the Demon Deacons.

Wake Forest closed to within 64-54 with about 13 minutes left but couldn't take it to another gear.

NC State led 17-6 eight minutes into the game. Williams had nine of the Wolfpack's first 20 points, while Harris accounted for more than half of Wake Forest's scoring through most of the first half.

Sebastian Akins joined Wake Forest's starting lineup with Nate Calmese out with an injury suffered earlier in the week in a loss at Pitt. Atkins finished with eight points in 18 minutes.

The starting time was moved up several hours because of a winter storm striking the region.

--Field Level Media