Tre’Von Spillers paired 15 points with a career-high-tying 16 rebounds as Wake Forest pulled away from North Carolina A&T for an 80-64 win on Thursday in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Spillers, an Appalachian State transfer, led all five Demon Deacons starters in double-figure scoring. Hunter Sallis provided 14 points, Efton Reid scored 12, Cameron Hildreth had 11 and Parker Friedrichsen netted 10 for Wake (2-0).
Spillers and Reid helped Wake dominate the interior, with the Demon Deacons outscoring the Aggies 38-16 in the paint.
Landon Glasper went for 23 points on 7-of-29 shooting — 7-of-20 from 3-point range — for NC A&T (1-1). Ryan Forrest scored 10 points before fouling out.
The game swung twice in each direction during the first half. NC A&T used a 9-0 spurt to take a 16-12 lead at the 13:42 mark, and five straight points by Forrest helped grow the lead to as large as 21-14.
Wake answered with nine in a row, featuring Sallis’ dunk and punctuated by Reid’s layup that put the Deacons back in front.
Glasper knocked down a pair of 3-pointers 26 seconds apart to help put the Aggies up by four, but Wake ended the half on a 14-4 run to take a 39-33 advantage into halftime.
The Deacons kept the momentum rolling in by scoring another 10 straight points in the first two minutes of the second half, capped by Friedrichsen’s 3-pointer in transition. They led the game by double digits the rest of the way, and by as many as 20 points.