NC State rolls past Wake Forest, 94-74

NC State is pretty tough when Markell Johnson is playing well, and Johnson was outstanding against Wake Forest on Sunday night. He led all scorers with 25 points, and the Wolfpack had a pretty easy time of beating the Deacs.

The Pack got out to a fast start for once, scoring the first nine points of the game, and State would never trail. There were periods in the first half where the Wolfpack looked poised to put Wake away only to let them crawl back to within a couple of possessions—but in every case State had the answers it needed, and they often came from Markell.

NC State finally put the game on ice with a 10-0 run that covered two minutes early in the second half, pushing its lead from five to 15 with 14 minutes left, which seemed to dispense with whatever interest Wake still had in the game. The Deacs never cut the lead back to single digits after that.

Thankfully this one ended up far more routine than the Boston College game, seeing as how it was another night NC State could not afford to screw up. Mission accomplished!

NC State hit the 20-win mark with the victory, and also pushed back above .500 in ACC play. So far, so good for this forgiving final stretch of the regular season. State has almost a full week off now before heading to FSU.