College Basketball

Wake Forest has been told by the NCAA to forfeit this week’s 69-65 victory over Rhode Island for using a player 4 1/2 hours before he was eligible, officials said.

The forfeit, because of an NCAA executive regulation, will not affect Wake Forest’s 3-0 record or any statistics from Tuesday night’s game, said Gary Johnson, an NCAA spokesman.

Demon Deacon guard Charlie Harrison, who started against Rhode Island on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. and scored 21 points, transferred to Wake Forest from Georgetown last January.

Harrison was declared eligible by the school after Wake Forest’s fall semester exam period ended on Tuesday. But NCAA bylaws state that when an athlete becomes eligible at the end of a semester, the earliest date he can compete is the day after the date of the last exam, Wake Forest athletic director Ron Wellman said.