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WINSTON-SALEM — Ish Smith, Wake Forest's sprightly 6-foot point guard, finished a fast break with a thundering one-handed dunk.

David Weaver, the Demon Deacons' beefy 6-foot-11 backup center, spotted up and swished a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

Up was down. Black was white. And Wake Forest and Winston-Salem State played to a 15-15 tie in the first half of the first half.

After that it was business as usual in the fourth Twin City Shootout. Wake Forest clobbered crosstown rival Winston-Salem State 76-52 Tuesday night at the Joel Coliseum.

Smith and backup point guard C.J. Harris scored 16 points apiece for the Deacons (4-0). Al-Farouq Aminu and freshman Ari Stewart had 13 apiece.

"The game plan was to value the basketball and not give them any easy baskets," Winston-Salem State coach Bobby Collins said. "I told our guys, 'We can't defend turnovers.' ... They really broke us down in transition. That's where most of their points came from in the first half, and it was our Achilles' heel."

Aminu scored nine of his points and Harris had four during a 16-0 scoring run as Wake blew it open by running the floor. Smith didn't score during the spurt, but his quickness made it happen.

"We went into a five- or six-minute spurt where we couldn't score, and that's where we kind of dug ourselves a hole we couldn't get out of," Collins said. "They capitalized on it. Ish is just so quick. We couldn't contain him."

Smith finished with three assists and no turnovers. And after Wake built the comfortable lead, the senior played with the freshmen — Harris and Stewart — on the floor together for long stretches.

"We had that opportunity to leave those guys out there," Wake coach Dino Gaudio said. "So let's go ahead and let them get some seasoning because we're going to really need those kids. We're going to need C.J. and Ari. They're going to have to help us as we go through this thing. So the more experience they get out there in game time, the better."

Wake led 41-25 at halftime, and pushed the lead to as many as 29 with 8:58 left.

And the Deacons, built around a big front line with four key contributors 6-foot-9 to 7 feet tall, did it from the perimeter.

"Our inside guys are our bread and butter," Smith said. " ... Our guards, we've got to complement those guys because (other teams) are going to start doubling down. Once we start hitting shots and making plays on the outside, it's going to be tough for people to guard us."

That's exactly the approach Collins tried. Brian Fisher scored 12 points and Andrew Jackson had 11 for the Rams, who filled the lane with defenders and dared Wake to make shots.

"We wanted to make sure that if they were going to beat us, they were going to beat us from the outside and not inside," Collins said. "That's why we packed it. We gave them some (perimeter) shots. They took some. They made some. But I thought that was to our advantage."

Wake's defense held the Rams' top scorer, Shelton Carter from Greensboro, to just seven points on 2-for-11 shooting. But on a night when the little point guard dunked and the big center hit a 3-pointer, it should've surprised no one that the other team's best shooter couldn't buy a basket.

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com

WINSTON-SALEM STATE (1-4) — Carter 2-11 2-2 7, Alcius 1-8 0-0 2, Morris 0-2 0-2 0, Wells 3-7 3-3 9, Fisher 5-12 0-0 12, Monger 2-6 3-3 7, Jackson 4-9 2-2 11, Kennings 0-0 0-0 0, Platt 1-1 0-0 2, Davis 1-3 0-1 2, Hobbs 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-59 10-13 52.

WAKE FOREST (4-0) — Aminu 5-9 2-3 13, Woods 1-3 1-3 3, McFarland 0-3 1-2 1, Smith 7-9 1-2 16, Williams 4-7 1-1 9, Harris 5-7 4-4 16, Stewart 6-13 0-0 13, Walker 0-2 0-1 0, Godwin 0-0 0-0 0, Weaver 2-4 0-0 5. Totals 30-57 10-16 76.

Halftime—Wake Forest 41-25.
3-point goals—Winston-Salem State 4-26 (Fisher 2-6, Jackson 1-6, Carter 1-7, Wells 0-2, Alcius 0-2, Monger 0-3), Wake Forest 6-17 (Harris 2-3, Weaver 1-2, Smith 1-2, Aminu 1-3, Stewart 1-5, Williams 0-2).
Fouled out—None.
Rebounds—Winston-Salem State 33 (Davis 7), Wake Forest 40 (Stewart 8).
Assists—Winston-Salem State 7 (Alcius, Wells 2), Wake Forest 17 (Williams 5).
Total fouls—Winston-Salem State 19, Wake Forest 17.
A—9,097.