New angular distributions for the 7 Li( 18 O, 17 N) 8 Be reaction at an energy of E lab ( 18 O) = 114 MeV for the ground states of 8 Be and 17 N and the excited states of 17 N were measured. These data and 18 O(d, 3 He) 17 N reaction data taken at E d = 52 MeV were analyzed within the coupled-reaction-channels method using 7 Li + 18 O and 18 O + d optical potentials deduced from previous elastic and inelastic scattering results. Shell-model spectroscopic amplitudes were used in the analysis. Both reactions are dominated by single proton transfer. Calculations show that heavy-ion reactions of the type studied in this work can be used to identify final-state spins when measurements are carried to small angles.