The Deacs started off hot, then held on after Devin Thomas was ejected.
The Wake Forest Demon Deacons (6-6, 0-1) soared out to a 21-4 lead over the Bucknell Bison (5-7, 0-0) before winning by a final score of 60-53. Although Bucknell started the game just 1-18 from the field, they were only down 31-20 at halftime. Guard Chris Hass led all scorers with 26 points, but no other Bucknell player scored more than 7. Codi Miller-McIntyre led the way for the Demon Deacons with 19 points, 4 assists, 8 rebounds and 5 steals.
Junior forward Devin Thomas finished with 8 points and 11 rebounds, but his most important statistic were his two technical fouls in the span of 1 minute and 23 seconds of action. Devin's technical fouls cost Wake Forest 7 points. Chris Hass made two free throws (he's only a 90% free throw shooter!), then made a three. On Devin's second technical, Hass made two more free throws, and Wake was fortunate Hass missed a subsequent three pointer. Devin Thomas now has 4 technical fouls this year and 9 for his career.
Redshirt freshman Greg McClinton had the best game of his young career. The Winston-Salem native played 24 minutes and finished with 10 points on just five field goal attempts and 7 rebounds. Head coach Danny Manning agreed, "Tonight was the best game he played. He gave us 10 points, 7 rebounds, 5 offensive. He was very active on the defensive end. I thought he was outstanding."
Wake Forest played better tonight, but continued to struggle shooting the ball. The Deacs had fewer turnovers than Bucknell and outrebounded them, but shot a woeful 36% from the field and 57% from the foul line.
Bucknell will play at Siena on Sunday.
The Deacs will face Richmond on Sunday at 4 p.m. The contest can be seen on NBC Sports Network.
