Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
1-6
Wake Forest
8-0
No. 15 Wake Forest Tops Bucknell, 81-52
12/6/2008 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 6, 2008
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Jeff Teague scored 26 points to lead No. 15 Wake Forest to an 81-52 victory over Bucknell before 10,305 fans at the Joel Coliseum on Saturday night. Darryl Shazier led a balanced Bucknell scoring attack with 12 points, connecting on a career-high four 3-pointers.
Patrick Behan added nine points, all in the second half, Bryan Cohen had eight points and four assists, G.W. Boon tallied seven points and Zach Evans had six points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots for the Bison, who fell to 1-6.
The 8-0 Demon Deacons also received 13 points from L.D. Williams, who made two big buckets early in the second half to answer a big Bucknell run.
The Bison trailed by 14 at the half, but pulled within seven with a 7-0 run to start the second period. After a Cohen steal on the first possession of the half, Shazier canned his fourth 3-pointer of the game. Josh Linthicum then grabbed a weak-side offensive rebound and put it back in, and Cohen hit a 16-foot jumper to make it 36-29.
Wake Forest answered with a 7-0 run of its own, however, keyed by five straight points from Williams, and the Demon Deacons led by double digits the rest of the way.
The two teams traded baskets for about four minutes before back-to-back 3-pointers by Teague and two free throws by James Johnson made it 61-39 with 9:53 left.
The Deacons led 27 at 77-50 after back-to-back baskets by reserve guard Gary Clark, then Mike Lepore hit a trey with 34 seconds left to give them their largest lead of 29 points at 81-52.
Six of Bucknell's eight first-half field goals were 3-pointers, three of them by Shazier. The Bison trailed 25-13 at the seven-minute mark when Shazier canned two in a row, the latter a 25-footer. After a Teague bank shot, Castleberry hit a 3-pointer to cap Bucknell's 9-2 run, pulling it within 27-22 with 4:33 left in the half.
But Wake Forest closed the first half on a 9-0 run to go up 36-22 at the break. Tony Woods began the surge with a layup, and after three Demon Deacons free throws, Teague turned a steak into a fastbreak layup. A tough inside bucket by Harvey Hale with 1:44 left gave Wake Forest the 14-point lead, its largest of the half.
Bucknell shot 31.7 percent in the game and Wake's strong defense forced 18 turnovers. Shazier, who came into the game leading the Patriot League in both assists and assist-to-turnover ratio, was held without an assist against five turnovers against the talented Teague.
Wake Forest shot 43.9 percent overall, about 10 percentage points under their season average, which ranked fourth in the nation coming in. The Deacons outrebounded Bucknell 50-39.
Bucknell is back in action on Tuesday night at home, facing Binghamton at 7 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion. The Bearcats are 4-2 after Saturday's 10-point win at Rutgers.
