Deacons Roll in 88-57 Exhibition Win Over IUP

Thursday, November 5

Winston-Salem, N.C.

7:30 PM

Wake Forest University

IUP (Exhibition)

11/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Nov. 5, 2009

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Sophomore Al-Farouq Aminu scored 24 points, pulled in 11 rebounds, and also had seven assists as Wake Forest cruised to an 88-57 victory against IUP at the Lawrence Joel Coliseum in its only exhibition game of the year.

The Deacons shot 54 percent from the field while holding the Crimson Hawks to 35 percent shooting. Wake outrebounded IUP 48-34.

Senior Chas McFarland came off the bench to notch 17 points, going six-of-seven from the field including a three-pointer, as well as grabbing 10 boards. McFarland made a jumper to put Wake ahead 10-8 with 13:15 to play in the first half - a lead it would never relinquish.

Wake Forest started a big lineup, with Ish Smith, L. D. Williams, Aminu, David Weaver, and Tony Woods getting the call. Woods put in a solid effort shooting four-of-five from the field for nine points as well as grabbing three rebounds.

Freshmen C. J. Harris, Ari Stewart and Konner Tucker got their first taste of the Joel Coliseum as all three were subbed into the game in the first half. Harris scored six points and had four assists in 17 minutes of play. Tucker also had six points and Stewart added four more.

Aminu brought the crowd to its feet as he took a lob pass from Gary Clark with 8:50 remaining in the first half and slammed it home to put the Deacons up 17-11.

With 7:10 remaining in the first half, Woods took a pass from Aminu and finished at the rim for an alley-oop. Only 33 seconds later Woods got the ball in the paint and went up for another dunk to extend the Demon Deacon lead to 23-13.

The 5,809 person crowd saw the Demon Deacons end the half on an 18-8 run to take a 42-26 lead into the break. Wake continued their momentum in the second half going on a 19-9 run coming out of the intermission to put the game out of reach.

Thomas Young led IUP with 21 points and three steals, while former Boston College player Akida McLain scored 18 points.

The Crimson Hawks were far from a pushover opponent as they are ranked No. 6 in D-II by The Sporting News and are the preseason pick to win their conference.

The Demon Deacons will open the regular season when they take on Oral Roberts on Nov. 13 at Lawrence Joel Coliseum. The first tip is set for 8:00 p.m. The game can be heard on the Wake Forest ISP Sports Radio Network.