Aminu leads Wake Forest over Oral Roberts 76-56

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Wake Forest got nice contributions from several players in its first game without Jeff Teague and James Johnson.

Freshman Ari Stewart scored 11 points in his debut and made two 3-pointers in the second half, including one off a set play. Holdovers L.D. Williams and Chas McFarland each added 10 points.

Yet when a comfortable lead dwindled down to margin a bit less comfortable, there really was no question who was going to get the ball: Al-Farouq Aminu.

"I was used to being the man in high school," Stewart said. "And now he's the man."

Aminu scored 18 of his 25 points in the second half and added 13 rebounds, helping the new-look Demon Deacons beat Oral Roberts 76-56 Friday night in the season opener for both teams.

Wake Forest had 20 offensive rebounds and finished with a 51-25 advantage on the boards to gibe the Golden Eagles their seventh consecutive loss against teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference. It was a pretty good effort with departed starts Teague and Johnson now in the NBA, and if Aminu's performance was any indication, he soon will join his former teammates at the next level.

"There's a reason he's going to be a lottery pick," Oral Roberts coach Scott Sutton said of Aminu's NBA draft chances.

The Deacons led throughout much of the game, and the margin was as high as 19 points midway through the second half. Oral Roberts slowly got closer, and when Warren Niles made 1 of 2 at the line with about 6 minutes remaining, it was 61-50.

Aminu took over. He tipped in a miss, and then following a 3-pointer by Michael Craion on the other end to cut the lead to 10, Aminu answered with one of his own. He added a three-point play from in close and another jumper from beyond the arc — this one as the shot clock wound down to 1 — to make it 72-53. The Golden Eagles couldn't recover.

"I guess the team started looking for me at the end," Aminu said. "Luckily, I was able hit the shots."

Kevin Ford led Oral Roberts with 19 points and teammate Michael Craion finished with 13, yet no one had an answer when either team took a shot.

"We've never been dominated on the glass like we were tonight," Sutton said.

"They just killed us on the glass."

There is a reason, according to Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio.

"Every day in practice, I don't care what drill we're doing, there's an assistant coach down there barking about offensive rebounds," he said. "We just really, really want to emphasis it."

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Nov 14, 2009 - 01:03 a.m. EDT

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