South Carolina St S. Car. St/Wake Forest Wake Forest Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

"We turned the ball over 24 times," Odom complained after No. 12 Wake Forest beat South Carolina State 66-55 Saturday night. "Some were forced, others weren't. That's garbage. Our defense was solid, but overall, this was a very hollow win."

Josh Howard and Darius Songaila scored 14 apiece as the Demon Deacons (6-0) won their 11th straight game dating to last season's NIT championship.

"South Carolina State played much better than we did, and they deserved a better fate," Odom said. "We are delighted to win the game, but not with the way we did it."

Wake Forest struggled to 29-22 halftime lead with the help of cold shooting from South Carolina State.

The Bulldogs (2-4) led 21-20 on Vincent Whitt's 10-foot turnaround jumper from the baseline with 4:35 left, but Craig Dawson's four-point play with 3:53 left ignited a 9-1 Wake Forest run to close out the half.

The Demon Deacons then opened a 15-point lead in the first four minutes of the second half.

Howard scored three breakaway baskets off S.C. State turnovers as the Deacons opened a 38-23 lead on a 9-1 run. Howard capped the spurt with an emphatic dunk with 16:08 left in the game.

The margin grew to 53-31 on another dunk by Howard with 7:29 left before a frenetic rally in the final six minutes enabled the Bulldogs to close the gap.

Whitt led the Bulldogs with 21 points, and LaRon Mapp contributed 13.

"I thought the run they made in the first eight minutes of the second half was critical," South Carolina State coach Cy Alexander said. "We played hard for 40 minutes, but we didn't always execute and finish plays around the basket."

Whitt scored the game's first four points, and S.C. State's aggressive zone defense kept the Deacons scoreless for the first 5:12.

O'Kelley broke the ice for Wake with a 3-pointer from the right wing, and the Deacons streaked to a 13-6 advantage before the Bulldogs answered with a 13-4 run to lead 19-17.

Deacons guard Ervin Murray converted a 3-point play for a 20-19 lead before Whitt's jumper put S.C. State ahead for the last time. The Bulldogs forced 11 Wake Forest turnovers in the first half, including five steals.

"I'll take the majority of the responsibility for us not being prepared tonight," Odom said. "We're not as good a team coming out of this game as we were going into it. But hopefully, this kind of play won't continue for us."

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