Wake routs East Carolina to go to 2-0

Al-Farouq Aminu and Tony Woods are used to teaming up and racking up big numbers. This time, they put on a show that one of their old summertime teammates had to envy.

Aminu scored 23 points, Woods matched a career high with 12, and Wake Forest routed East Carolina 89-58 in a nonconference men's basketball game Sunday.

"[Aminu's] work ethic from last year to this year, understanding the pace of practice, understanding how he has to sustain efforts in practice, has gone" significantly higher, Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio said. "As you see, he's a pretty good player. We can post him, he can shoot the 3, we can isolate him and he can go off the bounce. ... He's a tough cover."

Ish Smith scored 14 points for the Demon Deacons (2-0), who never trailed, shot 54 percent, held East Carolina to 24.6 percent shooting and turned 22 turnovers into 25 points.

Brock Young had 17 points, Darrius Morrow scored 12, and Chad Wynn added 11 for the Pirates (1-1). They held a 43-41 rebounding advantage but were done in by 19 percent shooting in the first half.

"I'm also more encouraged, and I know it's hard to be encouraged when you get beat that badly, but we did some things," East Carolina coach Mack McCarthy said.

This was East Carolina's home game, even though the Greensboro Coliseum is only about a 30-minute drive to Wake Forest's campus in Winston-Salem. The Pirates are based roughly 160 miles away in Greenville. It was the first of the Demon Deacons' two regular-season games at the site of this season's ACC Tournament.

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Virginia Tech 69, Brown 55: Malcolm Delaney scored 21 points, and Jeff Allen added 17 as Virginia Tech opened the season with a win over the Bears (1-1) at Blacksburg, Va.

The Hokies are 7-0 in season openers under coach Seth Greenberg.

Virginia Tech, which never trailed in the opening game of the Philly Hoop Group Classic, broke open a close contest late in the first half with a 16-5 run. The Hokies took a 34-19 lead on a free throw by Victor Davila with 1:08 remaining.

Five players scored in the run, with Davila putting in seven of the 16 points.

Andrew McCarthy led Brown with 14 points, and Matt Mullery added 13.

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