Quick hits and notes from NC State basketball’s 91-82 win over Wake Forest in front of a subdued crowd of 6,118 fans at LJVM Coliseum Saturday afternoon in Winston-Salem, N.C.

NC State never had a lead smaller than five points once it went up 11-4. Wake Forest, a couple of times, threatened to potentially make a run, but each moment NC State had the answer. Perhaps the most credible threat came at the end of the first half. The Deacons used an 10-2 run between the last three minutes of the first half and the opening basket of the second, cutting NC State’s lead to 45-38.

That’s when junior forward Jericole Hellems made a three-pointer, and a Wake Forest turnover led to a breakaway dunk for redshirt junior guard Devon Daniels. Demon Deacons head coach Danny Manning called timeout with 18:33 left in the game and the Pack back in control with a 50-38 lead.

With NC State leading 16-8, Wolfpack senior guard Markell Johnson threw a nice bounce pass to redshirt junior center D.J. Funderburk, who was not picked up by the Wake Forest defense, and he had an easy dunk with 12:24 left in the first half.

It led to Manning calling his first timeout of the game.

There are a lot of candidates to choose from as NC State has six players in double figures and a seventh, freshman center Manny Bates finished with eight points before fouling out for the first time in his career.

The choice here was Daniels, whose defense played a large role in NC State taking a sizeable early lead. Daniels finished with 12 points, seven rebounds (tied for team high), four assists and three steals.

After starting the season with five straight double-digit scoring games, Daniels had no more than nine points in his last three contests prior to playing in Winston-Salem. He made 4 of 10 shots Saturday, including 2 of 4 three-pointers.

• Fifth-year senior guard C.J. Bryce led the Pack with 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the field, coming off the bench for the second straight game. He also had seven boards and added four assists. Bryce has now led NC State in scoring in five games this season.

• Johnson had a game that head coach Kevin Keatts would probably prefer from him: scoring and dishing. He finished with 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting, including 2 of 3 three-pointers, and had a game-high seven assists.

• Before being taken off the court on a stretcher with 28 seconds left, Hellems had 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including 3 of 4 three-pointers. In his last three games, Hellems is averaging 17.7 points and shooting 8 of 14 on threes.

• Bates blocked four shots in the game, giving him 31 on the season. He needs just 17 more to break the freshman season record for a NC State player. In two ACC games, Bates has nine rejections.

• Funderburk came off the bench to have 11 points and six rebounds.

• Beverly made all four of his three-pointers and finished with 15 points despite attempting only six shots from the field. Beverly is now 18 of 41 on threes this year, or 43.9 percent.

Coming into Saturday, no team had scored more than 80 points on Wake Forest this season. NC State became the first team this year to shoot better than 50.0 percent on the Demon Deacons, making 52.3 percent of its shots (34 of 65). It is only the second time the Wolfpack shot better than 50.0 percent in a contest this year. It connected at a 53.7 percent clip in a home win over Alcorn State.

NC State used a balanced attack. It made a season-high 12 three-pointers yet also outscored Wake Forest in the paint, 36-34. Despite shooting better than Wake (only slightly as the Deacons shot 51.9 percent), NC State also had a 12-8 offensive rebounding edge that led to a 21-12 advantage in second-chance points.

In a sign of how methodical NC State was in controlling the game, it never had a scoring run of greater than six unanswered points.

Disconcerting for NC State was allowing Wake Forest to shoot so well. Head coach Kevin Keatts’ defensive philosophy emphasizes turnovers and possessions more than field-goal percentage, but giving up 51.9 percent shooting is still high. Wake also made 8 of 15 threes, or 53.3 percent.

The Demon Deacons tied Memphis for the best shooting performance in a game against NCSU this season.

NC State also had 17 turnovers after having just 13 in the last two games combined. It was a new season-high for the Pack.

Former ACC coaches Dave Odom (previously coached at Wake) and Matt Doherty were seen.

Also heard was a few chants of “Wolf-Pack” from the small crowd that had a healthy amount of red in it.

Here we keep track of the scoring between each official timeout to help give an idea of the game flow:

First half

20:00-15:55: NC State 5, Wake Forest 2

15:55-12:24: NC State 13, Wake Forest 6

12:24-6:31: NC State 14, Wake Forest 13

6:31-3:51: NC State 9, Wake Forest 7

3:51-Halftime: Wake Forest 8, NC State 4

Second half

20:00-15:17: NC State 10, Wake Forest 6

15:17-11:57: Wake Forest 7, NC State 6

11:57-7:58: NC State 8, Wake Forest 7

7:58-3:14: NC State 8, Wake Forest 8

3:14-Final: Wake Forest 18, NC State 14

Using Hollinger’s measure of productivity, players are graded 1-40 with 10 being average for an NBA player.

Bryce: 14.9

Johnson: 13.3

Daniels: 11.1

Beverly: 9.2

Bates: 8.9

Funderburk: 7.4

Hellems: 7.4

Senior forward Pat Andree: 0.8

Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU.

• Johnson +10 (37:26 minutes played)

• Daniels +10 (32:36)

• Andree +6 (8:06)

• Funderburk +5 (23:09)

• Bates +4 (16:51)

• Beverly +4 (24:51)

• Bryce +3 (28:44)

• Hellems +3 (28:17)

NC State is 7-2 overall and 1-1 in the ACC while Wake Forest is 5-5 and 0-2. The Wolfpack now leads the all-time series 145-106, is 32-47 in games player at Wake Forest and 8-23 at the LJVM Coliseum.

This was the Pack’s first true road game, and it is 1-1 away from home overall. The Pack is 4-1 in day games (played before 6 p.m.) and 6-1 when leading at halftime. It is the first time in three games that NC State has won when the opponent scored more than 80 points. NCSU improves to 7-1 when leading with five minutes left.

The game was broadcast on ACC Network. During the season, we’ll keep track of how NC State does on the various networks.

- ACC Network Extra: 3-0

- RSN: 2-0

- ESPN2: 1-1

- ACC Network: 1-1

We will also track NC State’s records by month:

- November: 5-2

- December: 2-0

• NCSU outscored the Deacons 24-21 in fast-break points.

• Wake’s bench beat NC State’s reserves, 32-29.

• The Wolfpack had the edge in turnover margin 19-17, and a bigger advantage in points off them, 27-18.

• NC State snapped a three-game skid of losing the rebounding margin and won the battle on the boards overall 33-29.

• Defensively, NC State had five blocks, altered three shots and nabbed a season-high 12 steals. The Deacons had three blocks, five alters and eight steals.

• NC State led for 38:57 and the game was tied for 1:03. The Pack’s largest lead was 17.

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