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WINSTON-SALEM — Not all the exams during finals week are taken inside classrooms.

In their own ways, Wake Forest and Elon both passed tests Sunday afternoon at the Joel Coliseum.

Freshman forward Ari Stewart scored 16 points off the bench to lead Wake Forest to a 90-50 victory, as the suddenly-confident Demon Deacons (6-2) passed their test by winning back-to-back games after back-to-back losses.

Chris Long had 11 points off the bench for Elon, as the Phoenix (3-7) passed its test by learning a lesson in competition from a bigger, taller, stronger, faster opponent.

"We got a little bit better in the first half as a team," Elon's first-year coach Matt Matheny said. "I thought we were competitively tough in the first half. I didn't think we were quite as competitively tough in the second half, and as a result you get the wide margin of victory. ... It was a learning experience for our team and our program, and I'm sure when we watch film we'll be able to grow from it."

Wake Forest, meanwhile, has grown considerably since its last home game — a loss to William & Mary. The Deacs then lost a close one at Purdue before rallying to beat Gonzaga on the west coast a week ago.

"I thought we played very well in the second half," Wake coach Dino Gaudio said. "Maybe we had to knock the rust off a little bit from not playing in a week. We shared the ball well in the second half. We rebounded the ball well in the second half. And our transition defense was much better."

Guards Ish Smith and Gary Clark scored 12 points apiece for Wake, getting 18 of those 24 in the second half. They had eight apiece during 39-8 stretch, when Wake turned an 11-point lead into a blowout.

"We have to learn as a team to overcome adversity a little bit better," Matheny said. "I felt like we were right there at halftime. &ellipses; Wake Forest had a pretty aggressive attack in transition in the second half and we did not respond very well defensively. As a result they got easy buckets and it stretched from there."

Wake's Al-Farouq Aminu — who didn't start the game because he was late for the team's morning walk-through — finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and L.D. Williams scored 10.

Aminu sat on the bench for the first five minutes, but he made the most of his 14 minutes in the first half, scoring nine points and grabbing nine rebounds. He gathered in a loose ball after his own miss and hit a fadeaway jumper at the buzzer for a 41-28 halftime lead.

Wake finished with a 53-27 rebounding edge and outscored Elon 19-2 on the fast break, 52-16 in the paint and 22-8 on second-chance points.

All those numbers were a byproduct of the Deacons defense.

"Elon played really well in the first half," Smith said, "but we knew they were getting a lot of points off transition. When we sat down and made them play half-court basketball, we held them to like seven points. In the second half we got back in transition, sat down and played good defense and kind of made them miss."

Elon finished 3-for-24 from 3-point range, twice committed shot-clock violations and forced several shots with the clock winding down.

"Wake Forest was as good as I've seen them defensively," Matheny said. " ... It's been a roller-coaster ride for us because our guys are learning our system. We're getting a little bit better at it. I see stretches where we're effective, but unfortunately there's still quite a few stretches where we're not. But Wake's defense was very good. They made it difficult for us to get open shots. Even some of the shots we made were contested."

The next test for Elon is to find some consistency. And the next test for Wake comes Wednesday at UNC-Wilmington.

"It's comforting to play well the other night (at Gonzaga) and play pretty well for most of the game today," Gaudio said. "We got to keep building, though, because Wednesday night is not going to be a day at the beach. Trust me."

NOTES: Aminu, a sophomore, has started all but two games of his career. He came off the bench against Clemson in Wake's final home game last season, allowing Harvey Hale to start on senior day. ... Wake Forest is 36-6 all-time against Elon, 24-0 since the Elon College Fighting Christians beat the Wake Forest College Baptists 29-24 in 1922. ... With the students on break, the Joel Coliseum crowd was a sparse 9,457 Sunday.

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

ELON (3-7) — Dugas 0-4 1-2 1, Constantine 3-3 0-0 6, Bonney 2-5 0-0 4, Spradlin 4-12 0-0 10, Carter 3-11 3-6 9, Birdette 1-1 0-1 2, Ervin 0-2 0-0 0, Long 2-8 7-7 11, Ogolo 0-1 0-0 0, Watts 2-5 0-0 4, Douglas 1-6 0-0 3. Totals 18-58 11-16 50.

WAKE FOREST (6-2) — Woods 3-6 0-0 6, McFarland 2-6 0-0 4, Smith 6-10 0-1 12, Harris 3-7 2-2 9, Williams 5-5 0-0 10, Aminu 3-10 5-5 11, Clark 6-6 0-1 12, Stewart 6-10 3-3 16, Bolton 0-0 0-0 0, Fowler 0-0 0-0 0, Walker 2-5 0-0 4, Godwin 0-2 0-0 0, Ingle 0-0 0-0 0, Weaver 2-4 2-2 6, Keenan 0-0 0-0 0, McDermott 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 38-72 12-14 90.

Halftime—Wake Forest 41-28.
3-point goals—Elon 3-24 (Spradlin 2-7, Douglas 1-5, Ogolo 0-1, Carter 0-2, Dugas 0-2, Bonney 0-2, Long 0-5), Wake Forest 2-5 (Harris 1-1, Stewart 1-4).
Fouled out—None.
Rebounds—Elon 27 (Watts 6), Wake Forest 53 (Aminu 10).
Assists—Elon 11 (Long 4), Wake Forest 14 (Harris 4).
Total fouls—Elon 12, Wake Forest 15.
A—9,457.