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Wake Forest Cruises Past East Carolina

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The Associated Press

Published: December 23, 2008

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Al-Farouq Aminu had 21 points and 12 rebounds, and No. 6 Wake Forest blew open a close game after halftime to beat East Carolina 95-54 on Monday night.

Chas McFarland had 14 points for the Demon Deacons (11-0), who are off to their best start since winning the first 11 games of 2003-04. Wake Forest led by four points at halftime before roaring out of the break with a big run that silenced the rowdy home crowd dreaming of an upset.

The Demon Deacons opened the second half with a 15-3 run that pushed the margin to double digits, then spent the rest of the game steadily increasing the lead while putting on a show of the full-court athleticism that has made them among the favorites in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Darrius Morrow had 15 points for the Pirates (8-3), who were outscored 54-17 after halftime.

OKLAHOMA 70, RICE 58: Freshman Willie Warren scored a career-high 31 points, Blake Griffin added 27 points and 11 rebounds and No. 4 Oklahoma (12-0) overcame turnovers and bad shooting to beat Rice (4-7).

Warren went 4-for-9 from 3-point range and Griffin notched his ninth double-double of the season for the Sooners, who matched the program's best start since 1989-90.

NOTRE DAME 81, SAVANNAH STATE 49: Luke Harangody had 23 points and 13 rebounds in his worst shooting game of the season, leading No. 8 Notre Dame (9-2) past Savannah State (7-5).

PURDUE 70, IPFW 55: JaJuan Johnson had career highs of 21 points and nine rebounds to help No. 10 Purdue (10-2) beat IPFW (4-8).

OHIO STATE 83, UNC-ASHEVILLE 59: Freshman B.J. Mullens, getting the most playing time of his career, scored 19 points to lead No. 15 Ohio State (9-0) past UNC-Asheville (4-8).

The 7-foot Mullens had never played more than 20 minutes nor scored more than 11 points. Monday night, he was eight of 11 from the field, including six dunks, and added eight rebounds and three blocked shots.

SYRACUSE 82, COPPIN ST. 71: Andy Rautins equaled a school record with nine 3-pointers and scored a career-high 29 points to lead No. 17 Syracuse (12-1) past Coppin State (1-8).

It was the final nonconference game for the Orange, who begin Big East play at home next week. Coppin State dropped to 0-22 against the Big East.

VILLANOVA 78, NAVY 68: Dante Cunningham had 24 points and 10 rebounds and Scottie Reynolds added 23 points as No. 18 Villanova (11-1) held off Navy (8-4).

BAYLOR 74, HARTFORD 59: Curtis Jerrells had 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists and No. 21 Baylor (10-1) survived its second scare in as many games, beating Hartford (4-8).

MICHIGAN 76, FLORIDA GULF COAST 59: DeShawn Sims had 20 points and a career-high 18 rebounds to lead No. 24 Michigan (9-2) to its fourth straight victory as the Wolverines defeated Florida Gulf Coast (4-8).

The Wolverines moved into the Top 25 for the first time since February 2006.

Women's Games

VANDERBILT 67, LIBERTY 50: Tia Gibbs had 15 points and four steals as No. 20 Vanderbilt (11-2) beat Liberty (3-7).

OKLAHOMA ST. 90, EASTERN KENTUCKY 35: Andrea Riley scored 23 points to lead No. 21 Oklahoma State (8-2) past Eastern Kentucky (3-6).

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