No. 11 Wake Forest holds off Wright St.

December 15, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Harvey Hale had a season-high 17 points to help No. 11 Wake Forest beat Wright State 66-53 on Sunday.

L.D. Williams added 11 points for the Demon Deacons (9-0), who are off to their best start since winning the first 11 games of 2003-04. Playing its first game after a weeklong break for exams, Wake Forest shot 52 percent and overcame 22 turnovers to beat the pesky Raiders (2-7).

Hale came into the game averaging 6.8 points and shooting 7-for-23 (30 percent) from 3-point range. But the senior hit his first five shots — all from behind the arc — to crack double figures in scoring for the first time this year.

Wake Forest led 35-25 at halftime on a 3 from Williams just before the horn and pushed the lead to 22 points midway through the second half.

John David Gardner scored 14 points to lead Wright State.

Bowling Green 58, Detroit 38

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Brian Moten scored 15 points to lead Bowling Green.

Darryl Clements and Joe Jakubowski added 13 a piece for the Falcons (4-4), who led the entire game after tying it 2-2 with 18 minutes to play in the first half.

Detroit (2-6) shot a lowly 23 percent from the field, including hitting only 17 percent (4-of-23) in the first half and one of 10 shots from behind the 3-point line for the game.

Woody Payne scored 12 points for Detroit, while Chris Hayes added 10.

Illinois-Chicago 66, Georgia Tech 60

ATLANTA — Jeremy Buttell got a rare start and made the most of it.

Scott Vandermeer scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half and Josh Mayo added 11 of his 17 points in the closing minutes to lead Illinois-Chicago.

Late Saturday Geneva 98, Bethany 94

BEAVER FALLS, Pa. — Geneva’s Bryan Hill hit a 3-pointer as time expired to force overtime and the Golden Tornadoes came away with the victory.

The Bison (5-4) had an 81-77 lead after two free throws from freshman Lance Beckwith with 11 seconds to play. Geneva (2-5) cut it to two on a lay-up by Lambros Svingos and were within one possession after BC hit just 1-of-2 from the line with 2.2 seconds to play. Following a timeout, Geneva threw a long pass to the frontcourt, which Richard Colick caught and fired to Hill on the left-wing. His off-balance 3 banked in as the horn sounded to even the score and force extra time.

Geneva outscored Bethany 14-10 in the extra session.

Beckwith posted a huge game off the bench with a career-high 27 points on 10-for-12 shooting. Tyler Morando and junior Joe Testa scored 12 points each, while senior Petre Petkovski and Dakota Matz dropped in 10 each. Justin Nardi led the Golden Tornadoes with 21, while Colick and Svingos each had 15.