news-record.com

NEWARK, N.J. -- Senior forward Herb Pope continued his dominant play by scoring 26 points and grabbing 14 rebounds, leading Seton Hall to a 68-54 victory over Wake Forest on Saturday night.

The victory was the fifth straight for the Pirates (8-1), with all five wins coming at home. Wake Forest fell to 6-4.

It was the seventh time in nine games that Pope, averaging 21.4 points and 11 rebounds entering the game, has reached double figures in both points and rebounds.

The Pirates broke open a close game with a solid 14-1 first-half run and never looked back, then put the game away with a 10-1 run in the second half.

Travis McKie paced Wake Forest with 17 points and C.J. Harris added 12.

The teams met for the first time since Dec. 5, 1989, when Seton Hall won 76-74 in overtime in the Greensboro Coliseum.

After a closely contested first 12 minutes, the Pirates pulled away with a 14-1 run, giving the Pirates a 28-15 lead with 4:47 left. Theodore and Pope had four points each in that stretch and Aaron Cosby and Freddie Wilson each nailed long 3-pointers.

Seton Hall held Wake Forest without a field goal for 7:02 of the first half. The Demon Deacons broke the drought when McKie hit a driving shot to cut the lead to 30-19 with 2:21 left. Seton Hall led 32-22 at intermission, with Pope leading the way with 11 points and seven rebounds.

The Pirates connected on 53 percent (11-of-21) from the floor in the first half, compared to just 36 percent for Wake Forest (8-of-22).

Wake Forest, which entered the game shooting 40 percent from 3-point range, connected on just 2-of-16 (12.5 percent) from beyond the arc.

WAKE FOREST (6-4)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Mescheriakov 22 1-4 2-4 1-4 0 2 4

McKie 37 7-14 3-4 1-7 0 2 17

Desrosiers 29 3-6 2-3 2-3 1 5 8

Chennault 32 3-6 2-4 0-4 2 3 9

Harris 34 3-7 5-7 0-2 1 4 12

Fields 13 0-3 0-0 0-0 1 1 0

Fischer 24 1-6 0-0 0-0 1 1 2

Walker 9 1-2 0-0 1-3 0 2 2

Totals 200 19-48 14-22 8-28 6 20 54

Percentages: FG .396, FT .636. 3-point goals: 2-16, .125 (Chennault 1-3, Harris 1-3, Desrosiers 0-1, McKie 0-1, Fields 0-2, Mescheriakov 0-2, Fischer 0-4). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 2 (Desrosiers, Walker). Turnovers: 10 (Mescheriakov 4, Harris 3, Chennault 2, Desrosiers). Steals: 2 (Desrosiers, Harris).

SETON HALL (8-1)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Pope 32 8-9 9-14 3-14 1 4 26

Edwin 31 6-12 1-5 2-6 2 5 14

Auda 33 3-10 2-5 1-5 1 1 8

Theodore 38 4-10 6-6 0-2 4 2 14

Cosby 29 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 2 3

Grennan 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Karlis 20 0-3 0-0 1-4 0 2 0

Wilson 7 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 3

Geramipoor 8 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Totals 200 23-47 18-30 9-33 10 18 68

Percentages: FG .489, FT .600. 3-point goals: 4-15, .267 (Pope 1-1, Wilson 1-1, Cosby 1-2, Edwin 1-3, Theodore 0-2, Karlis 0-2, Auda 0-4). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 3 (Geramipoor 2, Pope). Turnovers: 7 (Theodore 3, Pope 2, Edwin, Auda). Steals: 7 (Edwin 2, Cosby 2, Karlis, Auda, Theodore).

Wake Forest 22 32 -- 54

Seton Hall 32 36 -- 68

Officials--Joe Lindsay, Sean Corbin, Ray Natili. A--6,981.