Wake Forest University
Bucknell
Teague Leads Wake Forest Past Bucknell 72-56
12/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 16, 2007
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) -- Freshman Jeff Teague scored a career-high 16 points and Wake Forest pulled away late during a 72-56 victory against Bucknell on Sunday, spoiling the return to North Carolina of late coach Skip Prosser's son.
L.D. Williams scored 11 points, Harvey Hale added 10 and James Johnson had 12 rebounds for the Demon Deacons (6-3), who shook off an eight-day layoff and snapped a two-game losing streak with a late 10-0 run.
Wake Forest won the second meeting of a home-and-home series that started last year to match Prosser against his son Mark, an assistant to Bison coach Pat Flannery, before the matchup took on a somber meaning when the elder Prosser died of an apparent massive heart attack in July.
Mark Prosser exchanged pregame hugs with several members of Wake Forest's coaching staff, including head coach Dino Gaudio, Skip Prosser's protege and best friend, and was recognized by the LJVM Coliseum public address announcer during introductions.
John Griffin, the only senior in Bucknell's starting lineup, had 16 points on 5-of-18 shooting -- but was just 4-for-14 from 3-point range for the Bison (3-5). Josh Linthicum added 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Bucknell, coming off a 13-day layoff, was denied its first victory against an Atlantic Coast Conference team since 1961 and its first victory against Wake Forest in four tries.
For the most part, Bucknell followed the upset formula: shooting 32 percent from 3-point range and staying within striking distance. But the Demon Deacons took control late with 10 straight points, a solid stretch that was dominated by their guards.
Ish Smith started the run with a banked runner in the lane that snapped a 45-all tie and put Wake Forest ahead to stay, then followed it with a 3. Teague ended the burst with another 3-pointer to make it 55-45 with 8:19 remaining.
Teague surpassed his previous high of 15 points set against North Carolina Central and has reached double figures in two of his last three games.
The game was delayed 20 minutes at halftime because of an arena-wide power outage.
