CHESTNUT HILL - Travis McKie scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Wake Forest Demon Deacons quelled several rallies and coasted past the Boston College Eagles, 71-56, on Saturday afternoon at Conte Forum.
Boston College, which opened conference play with two wins in its first three games, has now dropped two straight ACC games and fell to 7-12 overall and 2-3 in the conference. BC is also now 9-4 all-time against Wake Forest.
"I thought wake did a terrific job most of the game," said Eagles head coach Steve Donahue. "We made a run at them in the second half and felt they kept their poise. They consistently got better looks at the basket than we did and obviously deserved to win the game. [We're] obviously disappointed in the aspects of the game. I felt we competed for the most part and made a run but probably didnt do it for 40 minutes enough."
C.J. Harris added 15 points to help pace Wake Forest, which shot 39.4 percent. Chase FIsched finished with 13 points, Tony Chennault had nine points and Ty Walker racked up six points, 11 rebounds and a game-leading six blocks.
Meanwhile, it was Ryan Anderson who paced the Eagles, finishing with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Jordan Daniels had 12 points and five assists and Lonnie Jackson scored 10 for Boston College, which was held to 31.1 percent shooting. Matt Humphrey, BC's second leading scorer, had just seven points and Dennis Clifford had eight points for the Eagles.
"I thought we had good open looks and we didnt make them," Donahue said. "I wasn't happy how we ran our offense, we didn't share it enough, and I thought wake kind of grinded it out and gave that one extra step. They just really played much smarter and tougher than we did."
The Eagles suffered through another slow start, making only two of their first 10 shots and falling behind 11-4 after five minutes, only to pick up the pace and bring the game within five points, 20-15. Alas, the run wouldn't last as the Demon Deacons outpaced the Eagles, outscoring them 14-11 in the final 7:49 of the half to grab an eight-point lead at halftime.
Humphrey and Anderson combined for seven points in the first four plus minutes of the second half and Jackson made a deep two to put BC right back in the thick of things, trimming the Demon Deacon lead to three points at 38-35. McKie's two back-to-back jumpers gave the Deacs a seven-point lead, 44-37, but Humphrey hit a three to cut the lead to four.
"I think we made a conscious effort to execute offensively and we came out with a lot more energy in the second half than we did in the first half," said Anderson.
Evidently tired of the tight contest, Wake Forest put together an 8-0 run to put the Deacons ahead by 12 points, 52-40, with nine minutes left. Wake held BC scoreless for nearly four minutes and coasted to victory in the final eight minutes.
Boston College heads back out on the road to face the Virginia Cavaliers on Thursday.
For more BC Basketball coverage, visit our team page and blog, BC Interruption.