WINSTON-SALEM — Codi Miller-McIntyre scored 20 points and Wake Forest shook off the rust from a 10-day layoff to beat St. Bonaventure 77-62 on Tuesday night.
Devin Thomas added 18 points and Travis McKie 16 for the Demon Deacons (9-2), who rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit to win their third straight game.
After shooting less than 40 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, Wake Forest made 18 of 29 (62.1 percent) and outrebounded the Bonnies (7-4) 22-11 in the second half to win by double digits for the eighth time this season.
Andell Cumberbatch scored 19 points for St. Bonaventure (7-4), which led by as many as 11 points in the first half. But the Bonnies shot just 38.5 percent from the field and made only 4 of 11 free throws in the second half.
St. Bonaventure led 36-28 at the half, but the Demon Deacons rallied to take a 50-49 lead on Miller-McIntyre’s layup with 11:35 left.
After Cumberbatch hit a layup 37 seconds later to put the Bonnies back on top, Thomas hit a layup and Coron Williams nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to kick off a 25-7 Wake Forest run.
Miller-McIntyre ended the run with a layup with 1:24 remaining, giving the Demon Deacons a 75-57 lead, their biggest of the game.
Yet Wake Forest — whose last game was an 11-point overtime win over Richmond on Dec. 7 — showed the effects of the layoff in the first half. The Demon Deacons shot 35.7 percent from the field (10 of 28), and turned the ball over nine times.
By comparison, St. Bonaventure — which had throttled Iona 102-89 three days earlier — shot 40.5 percent (15 of 37), including 3 of 9 on 3-pointers, and used Wake Forest’s ball control problems to take an 11-2 advantage in points off turnovers.
Still, the Demon Deacons managed to lead early, going up 8-6 on Arnaud William Adala Moto’s layup with 14:43 left. But the Bonnies responded with a 10-point run, pulling ahead 16-8 on Youssou Ndoye’s three-point play with 11:04 remaining.
Wake Forest cut St. Bonaventure’s lead to three points, 20-17, on McKie’s layup with 8:16 left. But the Bonnies went on another run, outscoring the Demon Deacons 12-4 over the next five minutes.
Cumberbatch’s 3-pointer from the corner ended the run and gave St. Bonaventure a 32-21 lead with 2:55 remaining, its biggest lead of the first half.
Wake Forest would pull no closer than eight points the rest of the half, with Miller-McIntyre’s layup with 44 seconds left sending the Bonnies out at the break ahead 36-28.