WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) Justin Gray scored 21 of his 23 points in the first half Thursday night to lift No. 5 Wake Forest past North Carolina A&T 98-76.
Eric Williams added 19 points for the Demon Deacons (11-1), who got an easy tuneup for the start of the Atlantic Coast Conference season. Wake Forest spent much of the game shooting around 60 percent and led by 32 points at halftime.
The Demon Deacons - who have beaten Arizona and Texas but lost at top-ranked Illinois - open league play Sunday at No. 25 Virginia.
Sean Booker scored 18 points for the overmatched Aggies (1-11), who suffered a lopsided loss at Wake Forest for the third straight season.
The Demon Deacons won their sixth straight game and showed little sign of rust from a weeklong layoff since an 81-64 win at New Mexico, shooting 64 percent in the first half.
Gray went 6-for-9 from the floor in the half, including 5-for-7 from behind the 3-point arc, in just 14 minutes. He didn't take a shot in the second half, hitting just two free throws.
Wake Forest hardly needed more against a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference school located about 30 miles west in Greensboro. Williams went 9-for-10 from the floor and had a career-high five blocks, while Jamaal Levy added a career-high seven assists.
Gray came in 12 points short of 1,000 for his career, but he didn't need much time to become the 42nd player in school history to reach that mark. He hit three 3-pointers in the first seven minutes to go with two rebounds and two assists.
Williams and Trent Strickland followed Gray's third 3 with a pair of nifty baskets. On the first, Williams found Strickland cutting to the basket for a layup. On the second, Strickland returned the favor with a touch pass to Williams for a slam and a 30-17 lead.
From there, the only question was whether Gray would stay sizzling-hot from the field.
Gray kept it up, draining a straightaway 3 when he was inexplicably left alone by the Aggies defense a few minutes later.
He hit his fifth 3 of the half on a kickout from Chris Paul, then assisted on a layup by Vytas Danelius.
Finally, with about 5½ minutes left in the half, Gray drained a contested jumper over Booker from the right side for his 21st point. That matched the entire Aggies team - which trailed 41-21 - and prompted Gray to yell excitedly "I might get 40!" as he ran back to the bench for a timeout.
The Demon Deacons led 60-28 at halftime, holding the Aggies to 33-percent shooting. Gray helped hold Booker to three points on 0-for-6 shooting in the half.
Wake Forest shot 21-for-33 in the first half, including a 9-for-14 performance from behind the arc, and had 16 assists. The only blemish was going 9-for-15 at the free-throw line in the half.
