Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Beats Coastal Carolina, 73-46
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
December 16, 1998
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) - Wake Forest used a balanced attack to beat Coastal Carolina 73-46 on Wednesday night.
Four players - Darius Songaila, Craig Dawson, Robert O'Kelley and Antwan Scott - each scored in double figures for the Demon Deacons (8-2). Songaila scored 12 points, Dawson added 11 and O'Kelley and Scott had 10 points each. The Demon Deacons led from the start, and shot 51 percent for the game, the first time they have shot over 50 percent this season.
Coastal Carolina, which fell behind 11-0 in the first three minutes, was led by Marcus Stewart with eight points.
The Chanticleers (2-6) managed to cut the halftime deficit down to 10 points at 36-26 with under 16 minutes to go, but a 16-7 run over the next five minutes pushed the Demon Deacons' lead to 52-33. A dunk by Songaila on a breakaway ended the run with 8:15 to play.
The Demon Deacons opened a 64-41 lead with 2:50 to play after O'Kelley made a layup. When Ervin Murray made a steal and dunked it with two minutes to go, the Demon Deacons enjoyed a 68-43 lead.
In the first half, the Demon Deacons jumped out to an 11-0 lead by hitting four of their first five shots. The Demon Deacons led 11-0 with a 3-pointer from O'Kelley.
The Chanticleers fought back and cut the lead to 13-11 with 12:40 to go in the first half. Consecutive buckets from forward Torrey Butler moved the visitors to within just two. That's the closest they would come the rest of the way.
A 12-2 run by the Demon Deacons that included 3-pointers from forward Rafael Vidaurreta and guard Craig Dawson pushed the lead back up to 25-13 with 5:49 to go in the half. The Demon Deacons' biggest lead of the first half was the halftime score (33-18) after Murray converted two free throws with 11.2 seconds in the half.
The Demon Deacons had a season-high 22 assists and O'Kelley, one of the top shooters in the ACC, tied his career-high with six assists.
The Chanticleers had 21 turnovers and shot just 34 percent from the field (18 of 53).
