Wake Forest Finds Its Comfort Zone

Wake Forest finally won with defense, even if it wasn’t how Coach Skip Prosser would have liked to draw it up.

His man-to-man defense didn’t work, and neither did a triangle-and-two. So he decided on a zone, and that finally stopped Texas.

“I would rather not have done it, but right now, we are still not Roger Clemens,” Prosser said. “We are still a little bit of a junkball pitcher.”

With the Longhorns stymied, Chris Paul had 23 points and a career-high 12 assists and Eric Williams had 19 points in an 89-88 victory for the No. 6-ranked Demon Deacons on Saturday at Winston-Salem, N.C.

Kenton Paulino missed an 18-foot jump shot just before the buzzer that would have won it for the No. 14 Longhorns.

“That shot at the end, I looked at it and he looked like he was going to make it,” Paul said.

Vytas Danelius gave the Demon Deacons (9-1) the lead for good with a reverse layup in traffic with about 3 1/2 minutes left. Wake Forest went six for eight on free throws down the stretch to seal it.

P.J. Tucker tied a career high with 27 points and had 14 rebounds for the Longhorns (7-2), and Brad Buckman finished with 17 points in the rematch of a game last season won by Texas, 94-81, behind 21 points from then-freshman Tucker.

No. 22 Gonzaga 85, No. 3 Georgia Tech 73 -- The Yellow Jackets cut a 15-point deficit midway throught the second half to five with 3:47 remaining but could get no closer in the late game of the Las Vegas Showdown. Gonzaga improved to 8-1; Georgia Tech fell to 7-1. Adam Morrison led Gonzaga with 24 points.

No. 2 Kansas 64, South Carolina 60 -- Russell Robinson scored four points in the last 36 seconds, helping the Jayhawks escape with the victory at Lawrence, Kan.

The Gamecocks (5-2), 17-point underdogs in their first road game, came out with a full-court pressure defense and took an 11-0 lead over the Jayhawks (7-0), who had five turnovers and a shot blocked in their first six possessions.

Wayne Simien had 20 points and 11 rebounds for Kansas despite sitting out five minutes in the second half because of a thumb injury.

No. 4 Oklahoma State 79, Nevada Las Vegas 67 -- Joey Graham had 20 points and John Lucas had 17 for the Cowboys (8-0), who used a 15-0 run in the first half to take a double-digit lead.

UNLV made things interesting, cutting the deficit to 71-63 with less than two minutes to play. But Ivan McFarlin’s dunk with 1:38 left sparked the Cowboys’ closing 8-4 run.

Romel Beck had a game-high 25 points for UNLV (3-4).

No. 7 Duke 78, Oklahoma 67 -- J.J. Redick had 19 of his 26 points in the second half and Daniel Ewing had 12 of his 17 to spark the Blue Devils in the Dreyfus Classic at New York.

Duke, which trailed, 39-29, at halftime, is 8-0 for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

Shelden Williams took over inside in the opening minutes of the second half, scoring seven points in a 10-2 run that cut the Duke deficit to 43-39 with 16:23 to play. Williams finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Taj Gray had 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Sooners (6-2), whose only other loss was to No. 18 Washington in the semifinals of the Great Alaska Shootout.

No. 8 Syracuse 74, Drexel 54 -- Hakim Warrick scored 21 points and Darryl Watkins had 14 points and 13 rebounds for his first career double-double for host Syracuse.

The Orange (9-1) had 44 rebounds to 17 for Drexel (3-4). It was the lowest total of rebounds against the Orange since Princeton had 15 in a game during the 1982-83 season.

No. 10 Pittsburgh 73, Coppin State 42 -- Chris Taft had 18 points and 11 rebounds to help the host Panthers start 8-0 for the third season in a row.

Pittsburgh had one of its best defensive games this season, holding the Eagles to 30.6% shooting on the way to their 23rd consecutive nonconference victory.

. Robert Pressey scored 12 points for Coppin State (2-7), which is 0-14 all-time against Big East teams.

No. 15 Arizona 48, Marquette 43 -- With leading scorer Salim Stoudamire benched, the Wildcats (7-2) relied on Chris Rodgers’ 16 points and key late layup to win at Milwaukee.

It was the Wildcats’ lowest scoring output since a 50-41 loss to Alabama in the 1985 NCAA tournament.

Coach Lute Olson didn’t say why he benched Stoudamire, who attempted only one field goal, a career low, in Arizona’s 67-62 victory over Utah last week.

Marquette (9-1), whose 34-game home winning streak ended, got 14 points from Travis Diener.

No. 16 Iowa 88, Western Carolina 75 -- Jeff Horner scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half and almost single-handedly broke the game open for the Hawkeyes at Iowa City.

Iowa (9-1) led by seven points after a sloppy first half against a team that had lost its four previous games to power conference opponents by an average of 20 points. And Western Carolina (5-7) hung around for a while in the second half, trailing, 43-31, after Kyle Greathouse’s three-pointer.

No. 17 Alabama 87, Tennessee State 79 -- Chuck Davis had 24 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocks to lift the Crimson Tide at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Alabama (9-1) never trailed and led by as many as 25 points in the second half before Tennessee State rallied, mostly against reserves.

Bruce Price scored 26 points for the Tigers (5-6).

No. 19 George Washington 85, Towson 69 -- Pops Mensah-Bonsu scored 15 points and Ricky Lucas had 13 of his season-high 14 points in the second half to help the host Colonials (7-1) win their seventh in a row.

Lawrence Hamm led Towson (3-7) with 18 points and Jonathan Pease had 16.

No. 20 Mississippi State 80, Xavier 74 -- Winsome Frazier emerged from a shooting slump by scoring 20 points for the Bulldogs at Cincinnati.

The Bulldogs (9-2) won their 14th consecutive road game, the longest current streak in Division I, by finding open shots. Mississippi State shot a season-high 54% from the field.

Xavier (2-4) has lost three consecutive home games.

No. 21 Michigan State 63, Delaware State 45 -- Chris Hill had 14 points, including four three-point baskets, to lead the Spartans (6-2) at East Lansing, Mich.

Michigan State shot 52% overall, and had 13 of its 19 assists in the second half.

Jahsha Bluntt had 11 points for the Hornets (2-6), who still haven’t played a home game.

No. 25 Cincinnati 81, Northwestern State 65 -- Jason Maxiell scored 21 points, including 14 in the second half, to lead the Bearcats (7-0) in a Las Vegas Holiday Classic game at Cincinnati.

The game was Coach Bob Huggins’ 500th at Cincinnati, where he is 381-119.

Tramaine Hancock scored 12 points and Clifton Lee had 11 for Northwestern State (5-5).