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Hale leads charge as Wake Forest trounces Wright State

Dec 15, 2008 - 1:49 AM WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Harvey Hale picked a good time to enjoy the best game of his season.

Hale scored a season-high 17 points and No. 11 Wake Forest used an efficient effort on the offensive end to notch a 66-53 victory over Wright State on Sunday.

In his first double-digit scoring game of the season, Hale converted 5-of-7 attempts from the floor, including 5-of-6 on 3-pointers.

"I thought Harvey really stepped up and played a big-time game for us when we needed him to," Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio said. "He deserves a lot of credit for that win. I thought he stepped up and shot the ball really well and guarded really well. Seventeen points in 18 minutes - pretty good job. I'm just really happy for him as a senior that he was able to come in and do that."

Wake Forest, which jumped out to a 35-25 lead at the half, shot 52 percent (24-of-46) overall.

"It's real important," Gaudio said. "We shot 7-of-13 from three so that's really good. And having Harvey come in - he hit some really big shots for us that let us extend the lead. That's what they're giving us a little bit and we've been making them, so that's a good sign."

L.D. Williams contributed 11 points and four rebounds and Jeff Teague added 10 and six for the Demon Deacons (9-0), who off to their best start since winning the first 11 games of 2003-04.

John David Gardner netted 14 points to pace Wright State (2-7), which had its two-game winning streak come to an end.

Cory Cooperwood chipped in 13 points and N'Gai Evans had 10.

"Wake played well and then took their foot off the accelerator a couple of times during the game," Wright State coach Brad Brownell said. "It took a little while to get our legs under us and really feel like we belong in the game. Once we made a couple baskets and got going, our kids relaxed and tried to play a little better.

"Wake's ability to switch through four and even five positions at times really caused us problems defensively. They cover so much ground because of their size and length. I didn't see as much of that on tape so we probably weren't as prepared for that."

The Raiders were without their leading scorer - junior guard Vaughn Duggins (11.8 points) - for the fifth straight game after having surgery December 3 for a broken right ring finger.

Wake Forest outrebounded Wright State, 36-18, and overcame 22 turnovers. Despite the strong start, the Demon Deacons have struggled protecting the ball, averaging 18.4 turnovers in their first eight games. They committed a season-worst 24 giveaways against Indiana on December 3, three days after coughing up 21 against Baylor on November 30.

"The thing that was a little disappointing was our turnovers," Gaudio said. "Against Indiana we had 24 and tonight 22. Two of our last three games we've had 46 turnovers and that is what's hurting our offense because we are shooting the ball well. We just have to adjust and know that we can't take the ball into the lane when they're all packed in there like that."

This contest was the first matchup between the two schools.