No. 7 Wake Forest beats No. 25 Florida State 86-63

Al-Farouq Aminu scored 17 points to help No. 7 Wake Forest beat No. 25 Florida State 86-63 on Saturday.

Jeff Teague added 15 points for the Demon Deacons (19-4, 6-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), who led the entire way to bounce back from a frustrating stretch that followed their appearance at No. 1. Wake Forest spent much of the game shooting above 50 percent and used a 13-0 run in the second half to take control, ending the Seminoles' three-game winning streak.

Wake Forest had lost four of six since reaching No. 1 last month, including Wednesday's loss at unranked North Carolina State in which it trailed by 20 points in the second half. But the Demon Deacons controlled this one from the start, scoring the first six points and taking a 42-30 lead at the break before pushing that margin to as many as 30 points after halftime.

Wake Forest improved to 4-0 against ranked teams this season. The Demon Deacons had beaten North Carolina, Duke and Clemson — all currently ranked 12th or higher — in January.

This wasn't the way Florida State (19-6, 6-4) wanted to celebrate its first appearance in the national rankings since January 1998.

It had won four of five, with the only loss coming against the Tar Heels on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. But the Seminoles never could regroup fully from a 5-minute scoreless stretch to open the game and finished with their most lopsided loss this year.

Toney Douglas led FSU with 22 points, but he got little help from his teammates when the game was within reach late in the first half. Florida State shot just 38 percent, including 4-for-22 from 3-point range, and committed 18 turnovers.

In fact, it seemed Wake Forest was keeping Florida State in the game by constantly fouling. The Demon Deacons committed 24 personal fouls, including 14 in the first half that helped the Seminoles get to the foul line and bolster their struggling offense.

The game also got chippy when Solomon Alabi was ejected for elbowing Chas McFarland in the face when the two got tangled while running up the court with 14:07 to play.

Wake Forest led just 46-38 when Ishmael Smith got a quick transition score to answer a 3-pointer from Uche Echefu. That started the Demon Deacons' 13-point spurt, with McFarland scoring seven during the run — including a hook shot off a feed from Smith and a three-point play. He also hit a pair of free throws after Alabi's foul, which helped Wake forest take a 59-38 lead with about 14 minutes to go.