Harris leads Wake Forest past Boston College

Harris leads Wake Forest past Boston College

Published Jan. 12, 2013 5:49 p.m. ET

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) -- C.J. Harris scored a career-high 29 points and Wake Forest held off a late Boston College rally for a 75-72 Atlantic Coast Conference win Saturday.

Travis McKie added 18 points for the Demon Deacons (9-6, 2-1), who overcame shooting problems early in the first half to win their second straight ACC game.

Harris -- whose previous career high of 28 came earlier this season against Seton Hall -- scored 19 points in the first half, including a layup with 7 seconds remaining that put the Demon Deacons ahead 38-36 at the break.

Lonnie Jackson scored 23 points, Olivier Hanlan added 18 and Ryan Anderson had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Eagles (9-7, 1-2), who trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half.

Wake Forest expanded its lead to 60-48 with 9:29 left in the second half on Arnaud William Adala Moto's layup, and still led by 10 points with five minutes remaining when Boston College began its comeback.

The Eagles cut the Demon Deacons' lead down to one point twice in the final two minutes, the last at 73-72 on a pair of Joe Rahon free throws with 1:28 remaining. With a chance to take the lead, Rahon missed a heavily-contested layup with 5 seconds left.

Harris hit a pair of free throws with 4.2 seconds remaining to push Wake Forest's lead to three points, and Hanlan missed a guarded 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

Saturday's game looked like it would be decided early, as Wake Forest went more than 5 1/2 minutes without a field goal and the Eagles hit their first four shots (including a pair of 3-pointers) to take a 10-2 lead.

Counting their shooting problems in the second half of Wednesday's win over Virginia, the Demon Deacons went 15 minutes, 38 seconds without making a field goal over the two-game span.

Then Harris went to work. He hit five consecutive shots, including a jumper with 13:14 left that gave Wake Forest its first lead at 11-10 and another that tied the score at 13-13 with 12:44 left.

That also set the pattern for the rest of the first half -- Boston College would build a lead, only to see the Demon Deacons shoot their way back into contention.

The Eagles went on another 10-0 run midway through the half, with a pair of Eddie Odio free throws giving them a 28-20 lead with 7:29 left. But Harris hit a pair of 3-pointers during a 13-point run, with Madison Jones' layup with 3:35 remaining giving Wake Forest a 33-28 lead, its biggest of the half.

Boston College led once more in the first half, with Jackson's 3-pointer with 1:43 left capping an 8-0 run to give the Eagles a 36-33 lead. But McKie followed with a 3 to tie the score with 38 seconds remaining.

Jackson missed the front end of a 1-and-1 that would have put the Eagles back in the lead, setting up the Demon Deacons' last possession and Harris' shot.

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