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Wake Forest survives big test from Cal State-Fullerton

Nov 28, 2008 - 3:07 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- For the first time this season, 24th-ranked Wake Forest was put to the test. The Demon Deacons survived it, remaining unbeaten with a 75-69 victory over Cal State-Fullerton in the opening round of the 76 Classic on Thursday.

Wake Forest had put together three straight blowouts, but the Titans wouldn't go away quietly. Freshman guard Jacques Streeter buried back-to-back 3-pointers late in the second half and Marcio Lassiter followed with a layup to cut the deficit to 64-61 with just over three minutes remaining.

"I think in the second half, we really settled down and started to perform and play together," Fullerton coach Bob Burton said. "We started off pretty well in the beginning, but their defense stepped it up. For a moment, their defense was better than their offense as we weren't playing together. We continued to have way too many turnovers and you can't do that against an ACC team."

After two free throws by junior center Chas McFarland pushed Wake Forest's lead back to five, Josh Akognon buried an 18-footer to pull Fullerton back to within three at 66-63. But that's as close as the Titans could get the rest of the way.

"Coach told us in the huddle to stay focused and keep our composure," Wake Forest guard Jeff Teague said. "We had to make a couple big stops at the end and Chas made big free throws."

Teague led the Demon Deacons with 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting - including 4-of-7 from 3-point range - and Al-Farouq Aminu added 14.

Akognon paced the Titans with 24, while Streeter added 14 and 11 rebounds.

The Demon Deacons won their first three games of the season by an average margin of 36.3 points.

"Our defense has been good pretty good," Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio said. "They made some tough threes, really tough threes, and as long as we were contesting them and are up on those guys that's all we can do. This was a good win for us."