Florida State Florida St/Wake Forest Wake Forest Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

The sixth-ranked Demon Deacons played one of their worst offensive games of the season Tuesday night but still managed a 76-53 victory over Florida State.

The game was so ugly that despite a 20-point second-half lead, Wake Forest coach Dave Odom turned away from a Florida State offensive rebound, slammed his hand on the scorer's table and screamed "Will this night ever end?"

"Obviously we weren't geared up for a great performance," Odom said. "We were out of sync and we didn't pass and catch the ball well. The only thing I felt we did well was shoot free throws."

Wake Forest (13-1, 2-1 ACC) shot just 40 percent for the game, made 7 of 17 3-pointers and was outrebounded by Florida State 41-32.

But the Deacons used their trademark defense to control Florida State (5-10, 0-2) and win their 12th-straight home game dating to last season.

They did it despite opening the game flat, a lingering effect from Saturday's 70-69 loss at No. 9 North Carolina. That game was decided on a layup with three seconds left and it ended Wake Forest's 17-game winning streak.

"That was a bad loss for us and I think we were still feeling it when we came out against Florida State because we started off real slow," said Josh Howard, who led Wake Forest with 15 points.

"But even though it wasn't our best game, we were able to keep it together and win."

Wake did it with defense, especially in the first half.

They held Florida State to 23 percent first-half shooting while building a 35-15 lead at the break. The Seminoles didn't score a basket over the final 8:07 of the first half and missed 10 straight shots.

Florida State was 0-for-8 from 3-point range in the first half and committed 10 turnovers -- six of which were Wake Forest steals.

"The first half was the difference in the game," said Florida State coach Steve Robinson. "We had good looks at the basket, we just couldn't get them to go down."

Florida State opened the second half with a 9-2 run to pull within 37-24 with 17:55 to go. But that was the closest the Seminoles would get as Wake Forest answered with nine straight points to retake control of the game.

"Florida State is a dangerous team," Odom said. "They keep coming at you, they're not a very easy team to pull away from."

For the game, the Deacons held Florida State to 35 percent shooting. They have now held 23 consecutive opponents to under 50 percent, and 20 of their last 21 opponents to less than 40 percent.

Wake Forest forced 16 turnovers, had nine steals and blocked eight shots.

Antwan Scott scored 14 points for Wake Forest. Robert O'Kelley, playing with a sore left shoulder that required him to wear padding around it, scored 13 points.

Mike Mathews led Florida State with 15 points. Monte Cummings added 11 and Michael Joiner had 17 rebounds.

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Men's College Basketball Scoreboard

Florida State Clubhouse

Wake Forest Clubhouse