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Wake Forest remains unbeaten, snap BYU home streak

Jan 4, 2009 - 4:58 AM PROVO, Utah (Ticker) -- Wake Forest showed it may be ready for next week's showdown by ending the nation's longest home winning streak.

Jeff Teague scored 30 points and James Johnson added 22 and 15 rebounds as sixth-ranked Wake Forest with a 94-87 triumph over Brigham Young on Saturday.

Freshman Al-Farouq Aminu added 14 points for the Demon Deacons (13-0), who ended the Cougars' home streak at 53 games. BYU's last loss at the Marriott Center was against Loyola Marymount on November 18, 2005.

"I thought it was a great college basketball game in an unbelievable environment," Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio said. "That parallels anything you'll see in the ACC. I told my team that was not a good win tonight, that was a great win against a great team."

It was the last non-conference contest for the Demon Deacons, who open Atlantic Coast Conference play against top-ranked North Carolina on January 11. The Tar Heels have won their 13 games by an average of 26.4 points.

Wake Forest snapped an 85-85 tie when Johnson scored on a putback off Teague's missed 3-pointer with 1:30 left. L.D. Williams and Chas McFarland each made one free throw to give the Demon Deacons an 89-85 edge with 43 seconds remaining, and the Cougars never got any closer.

Teague and Johnson each made a pair from the line - after BYU failed to score - to seal the victory.

Jimmer Fredette tied a career high with 23 points and had nine assists for the Cougars (11-2), who missed eight of their final nine shots from the field.

"I thought it was a hard fight between two competitive teams," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "We had a lot of opportunities but just could not convert. We had some good looks but just could not get the ball to go in."

The contest was played at a furious pace throughout, which may have worn down BYU in the end.

Wake Forest came out firing, taking a 14-5 lead just 3:10 into the game.

The Cougars responded with a 15-0 run - capped by a Fredette 3-pointer - to go in front by six with 12:58 left in the first half, and the contest remained close throughout the rest of the session.

Ismael Smith's putback of his own miss gave the Demon Deacons a 39-34 lead with 4:39 left in the half, but the Cougars would later answer with the final seven points to take a 48-45 edge into the locker rooms. McFarland was given a technical with 20 seconds left and Lee Cummard made a pair of free throws for BYU.

"We fully expected to win here tonight," Cummard said. "There were a lot of fans here tonight that I'm sure are disappointed and we are disappointed as well."

BYU took its largest lead at 62-54 on Jackson Emery's 3-pointer with 14:45 left but Wake Forest continued to battle.

Teague made a key 3-pointer during an 11-0 burst as the Demon Deacons went back in front, taking a 77-72 lead with 7:30 remaining.

Fredette's layup gave the Cougars an 80-79 edge, but Teague answered with a three-point play to put the Demon Deacons in front, 82-80, with 5:21 left.

"Tonight we saw how tough our guys are - who wants to win and who wants to play," Johnson said.

Cummard tied the game at 84-84 with a jumper and later made one free throw to even the contest at 85-85 with 2:03 to go.

Jonathan Tavernari had 18 points and nine rebounds and Cummard finished with 17 for BYU, which shot 33 percent (14-of-42) in the second half, including 4-of-17 from the arc.

"Our players are playing hard trying to make things happen," Rose said. "Wake Forest played some great defense late in the game and that gave us trouble."