Gray, Deacons wallop Tigers

CLEMSON, S.C. - Justin Gray tied his career high with 31 points and No. 4 Wake Forest won its eighth in a row, beating Clemson 103-68 on Saturday.

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Since losing their No. 1 ranking at Illinois on Dec. 1, the Demon Deacons (13-1, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) have averaged nearly 90 points per game. Gray, their leading scorer, is a big reason why.

Against the Tigers, Gray made his first five 3-pointers to give Wake Forest a double-digit lead - then helped maintain it with a 6-for-6 performance from the foul line as he matched his career best for points, set against Florida State last season.

Eric Williams added 21 points, the second time this season that Wake has had two players with more than 20 points.

Akin Akingbala led Clemson (9-5, 0-2) with 16 points, which tied his career high set against Hampton in the season-opener.

Gray nearly matched his career high with 25 points in the first half. After Clemson ran out to a 5-0 lead, Gray began to silent the large Littlejohn crowd with his long-range shooting.

His first two 3-pointers put the Demon Deacons ahead to stay. Gray's swished a fourth 3-pointer with Sam Perry draped on him. Then Gray finished his starting run with a wide-open 3-pointer 15 seconds later that led Clemson coach Oliver Purnell to call time out - presumably to ask, "Who's got Gray?"

Gray's performance was part of a 22-4 run in the game's first 6 minutes that gave the Demon Deacons control.

Gray reached 31 points on an 8-foot jumper with 5:33 left. He left the game about 30 seconds later.

Sharrod Ford, Clemson's leading scorer coming in at almost 16 points a game, was 0-for-5 from the floor and held to six foul shots.