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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) -- It's not always an easy transition
when a new coach comes to a team with five seniors. Skip Prosser
and Wake Forest (No. 22 ESPN/USA Today, No. 24 AP) made it work.
Darius Songaila scored 20 points and grabbed a career-high 18
rebounds as the Demon Deacons nailed down the third seed in the ACC
tournament with an 83-71 victory over North Carolina State on
Saturday.
"My prevailing emotion is one of gratitude," Prosser said as
the Demon Deacons posted their best Atlantic Coast Conference
finish since Tim Duncan was a senior in 1997. "Ten months ago we
came down here (from Xavier) and the players didn't know us from a
bucket of paint. I've been blessed to coach very good kids.
"We wanted to do something special, something the seniors
hadn't done since they've been here and that is to be a winning ACC
team. To the kids' credit they were able to do it."
The Demon Deacons (19-11, 9-7) had lost three in a row and five
of six, allowing 90 or more points in the losses. But Wake Forest
gained some momentum heading into the postseason with its victory
over the Wolfpack (20-9, 9-7).
"We lost to Cincinnati, Duke, Maryland -- top five teams -- at
Georgia Tech, at Clemson, so you could rationalize all you want,"
Prosser said. "But the reality is we lost five out of six.
"I'm not so sure we have the most confident team anyway, and
during this stretch it has been sorely tested. To go into March you
have to have some confidence and hopefully we'll get a little bit
more after today."
The nine ACC wins are the most for the Demon Deacons since going
11-5 five seasons ago.
Songaila's rebound total matched the best in a game in the ACC
this season as Wake Forest finished with a 48-28 advantage on the
glass.
"We were humiliated on the backboards at Georgia Tech,"
Prosser said of Wednesday night's 90-77 loss in Atlanta. "We had
an extremely combative practice on Thursday. I like a good fight
every once in a while and hopefully that was manifested in the
rebound totals."
Songaila did in the Wolfpack for the second time this season. He
scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half a month ago in
Raleigh as the Demon Deacons rallied to an 82-81 win.
"Darius Songaila was just dominant," Wolfpack coach Herb
Sendek said. "Very much like our first game against them he just
controlled the basketball game. Even when he didn't score it we
were helping to him so many times that led to other guys getting
off."
Julius Hodge led N.C. State with 21 points, while Marcus Melvin
added 18 and Anthony Grundy 16. But Melvin was one of three
Wolfpack inside players to get into serious foul trouble down the
stretch as Wake Forest went to the paint to seal the key win.
"It was very frustrating," said Ilian Evtimov, one of three
Wolfpack players to foul out. "At the end it was almost guaranteed
if Songaila catches the ball there was going to be a foul or a
basket."
The Wolfpack trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half
and nine at halftime before inching back into it, tying the score
at 58-58 with 7:26 left on a 3-pointer by Grundy.
The score was tied twice more before the Demon Deacons went on
an 11-1 run.
It looked like Songaila would be a goat on senior day as the
normally reliable free throw shooter missed four of six from the
line over a span of 1:29 as N.C. State got back into it.
But the senior center had a layup and three free throws during
Wake Forest's crucial late spurt, while Josh Howard added a shot in
the lane and a follow slam of a miss by Songaila as the Demon
Deacons went up 73-63 with 2:08 left.
"That kind of surprised me because my ankle is still a little
sore," Howard said of the dunk. "I just put my all into it. I
have to see it on TV."
N.C. State, which has lost six straight to the Demon Deacons for
the first time since 1922-25, never got closer than eight points.
"Today is not going to detract from our season or be any more
than it was -- a good Wake Forest team beating us," Sendek said.
Broderick Hicks added 15 points for Wake Forest, while Howard
had 14 and nine rebounds. | 
