Wright State stayed close with #11 Wake Forest for much of the first half and trailed by just five late in the period, but the Demon Deacons followed with a 23-7 run over the next seven minutes en route to a 66-53 decision over the Raiders Sunday afternoon at the Lawrence Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

John David Gardner drew the Raiders to within two at 11-9 with a three at the 11:40 mark, but the Demon Deacons responded by scoring the next 10 points, capped off by a pair of Harvey Hale threes.

N'Gai Evans broke that string with a three from the top of the key and after Wake went up 27-14 on an Al-Farouq Aminu dunk with 5:51 remaining, an 8-0 WSU burst, capped off by a Cory Cooperwood jumper in the lane, cut the deficit to five at the 3:28 mark.

Three pointers by Hale and L.D. Williams down the stretch, however, keyed an 8-3 Deacon run as Wake Forest went up 35-25 at the break.

The Demon Deacons shot 50 percent from the field over the first 20 minutes, including six of nine from behind the arc, while Wright State hit for 33 percent altogether and was four of 14 from three-point range. The Raiders, though, held a 12-6 edge in points off of turnovers as they forced 12 miscues while committing just six.

Wake then broke the game open with an 15-4 run over the initial six minutes of the second half as they hit for 52 percent for the game, including seven of 13 on three-pointers while WSU shot 40 percent overall and was seven of 23 from three.

The Demon Deacons held a 39-19 rebounding advantage and led in points in the paint (28-14), second-chance points (10-3) and fast-break points (13-2) while the Raiders had a 22-16 edge in points off of turnovers.

Gardner led the Raiders with 14 points and six assists while Cooperwood had 13 points and Evans 10.

Hale paced Wake Forest (9-0) with 17 off the bench, 14 of those coming in the first half, while Williams had 11 and Jeff Teague 10.

Wright State (2-7) hosts Norfolk State on Wednesday at 7:00.