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WINSTON-SALEM — Wake Forest's mastery over Clemson at Joel Coliseum continued, and the No. 10 Deacons clinched second place in the ACC with a 96-88 win over the No. 18 Tigers Sunday night.

For the second straight game, Wake trailed at the half. The Deacons were down 10 points with 1:18 remaining before they closed the first period on a 6-0 run.

Wake (24-5, 11-5) went into intermission on a huge note thanks to a tremendous play before the buzzer. Center David Weaver came up with a loose ball, dribbled to the basket and delivered a behind-the-back pass to Ishmael Smith, who dished to Al-Farouq Aminu for a dunk at the buzzer.

After intermission, the Deacons made an adjustment against Demontez Stitt, who took the ball to the basket at will and scored 15 first-half points.

"They must have set 40 or 50 ball screens," Wake coach Dino Gaudio said. "At first the guard wasn't getting over the ball screen with enough urgency. Then we started going under on Demontez. &ellipses; It helped us a little bit."

Stitt was held to six points in the second half.

And just as big for the Deacons was that James Johnson came alive offensively in the second half. After being limited to four points and three rebounds in the opening 20 minutes, Johnson had 17 points and six boards after intermission.

Aminu hit a dunk and converted the foul shot with 11:21 remaining to give Wake a 65-64 lead, one theynever relinquished. Moments later the Deacons went on a 12-2 run, capped by a tomahawk jam by Johnson, to extend the lead to double digits.

Wake shot 60 percent from the floor in the game. It had 58 points in the paint and added another 24 from the line. When you add in 12 points from behind the arc, the Deacons had just one mid-range jump shot in the game.

"Their ability to shoot the ball and our inability to guard them, to the point where they shot 60 percent," said Clemson coach Oliver Purnell on how Wake shot so well. "I think they we're shooting 70 percent with 3 or 4 minutes to play, which was the tale of the tape.

"Obviously they got to the free-throw line and converted. They are a really good basketball team on their home court and got the job done on senior night."

Gaudio credited his entire team for the strong shooting night.

"Everyone looks at the stats and thinks, 'wow they scored 58 points in the paint, they must be throwing it in to just big guys.' It's not that. Our guards are going to the cup. Our wings, James and Farouq, are getting to the basket. That's who we are."

Wake had five scorers in double figures, led by Johnson and Aminu with 21 points apiece. Stitt and KC Rivers paced Clemson (23-7, 9-7) with 21 points each.

The 96 points scored by the Deacons was the most against an ACC foe this season and the second-highest total of the year, trailing just the 120 they tallied against UNC-Wilmington in November.

Also, it was the sixth win in the last seven games for Wake, which upped its record versus ranked teams to 5-1 for the season. It was also the 17th-straight win over Clemson in Joel Coliseum.

CLEMSON (23-7, 9-7)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Booker 33 7-14 4-4 4-10 0 2 18

Sykes 17 0-0 0-0 1-4 0 4 0

Rivers 34 8-12 0-0 0-1 1 2 21

Stitt 29 8-14 4-6 0-1 3 3 21

Oglesby 26 3-11 0-0 1-2 1 5 9

Anderson 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Smith 14 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 3 2

Young 14 2-5 1-2 0-0 4 0 6

Potter 13 2-4 0-0 0-1 1 4 5

Narcisse 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Grant 20 2-3 2-3 1-3 1 2 6

Totals 200 33-65 11-15 10-26 13 25 88

Percentages: FG .508, FT .733.

3-point goals: 11-27, .407 (Rivers 5-8, Oglesby 3-8, Stitt 1-3, Potter 1-3, Young 1-4, Smith 0-1).

Team rebounds: 4.

Blocked shots: 5 (Booker 3, Grant 2).

Turnovers: 16 (Stitt 5, Sykes 4, Booker 3, Smith, Young, Rivers, Potter).

Steals: 10 (Stitt 3, Rivers 2, Smith, Oglesby, Booker, Sykes, Potter).

Technical fouls: None.

WAKE FOREST (24-5, 11-5)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Johnson 35 10-14 0-0 3-9 3 2 21

Williams 33 2-5 1-1 0-0 4 1 5

McFarland 26 2-4 10-12 3-8 0 2 14

Teague 27 5-7 2-2 1-1 3 4 15

Hale 12 0-2 0-0 0-1 0 1 0

Aminu 30 7-10 7-9 3-10 1 3 21

Clark 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Smith 24 5-10 3-4 2-4 6 1 13

Lepore 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Weaver 7 1-2 1-2 0-3 0 2 3

Hoekstra 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Woods 3 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 4

Totals 200 34-57 24-30 13-38 17 17 96

Percentages: FG .596, FT .800.

3-point goals: 4-10, .400 (Teague 3-5, Johnson 1-2, Clark 0-1, Hale 0-2).

Team rebounds: 2.

Blocked shots: 2 (Aminu 2).

Turnovers: 19 (Teague 5, Johnson 4, Aminu 3, Smith 3, Williams 3, McFarland).

Steals: 8 (Williams 3, Teague 2, Smith, Johnson, McFarland).

Technical fouls: None.

Clemson 44 44 — 88

Wake Forest 40 56 — 96

A—14,665. Officials—Les Jones, Karl Hess, Sean Hull.