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Wake Forest holds off Baylor to win 76 Classic

Dec 1, 2008 - 7:17 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- L.D. Williams had 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead a balanced attack as No. 24 Wake Forest won the 76 Classic on Sunday with an 87-74 victory over Baylor.

James Johnson had 14 points and 14 rebounds and freshman Al-Farouq Aminu added 13 and 12 for the Demon Deacons (6-0), who outrebounded the Bears, 62-38.

Wake Forest, which is off to its best start since it started the 2003-04 campaign 11-0, defeated Cal State Fullerton and Texas-El Paso on its route to the tournament title.

"We played well against a very good basketball team," Demon Deacons coach Dino Gaudio said. "They have four seniors and a junior from an NCAA Tournament team. I just thought we played really hard and I think it manifested itself on the defensive end and showed itself on the backboard."

Trailing by five early in the second half, Wake Forest took control with an 18-1 run to take a 49-37 lead with 13:20 left to play. Williams scored six points during the burst.

Wake Forest pushed its advantage up to as many as 14 but a 9-1 spurt helped Baylor pull within 61-55 with 5:43 to play.

The Bears (6-1) could get no closer than four the rest of the way and the Demon Deacons made 10-of-12 free throws in the final three minutes to help seal the victory.

Baylor, which made 11-of-24 shots from the arc in its win against Arizona State on Friday, connected on just 8-of-31 of its 3-pointers and shot a season-low 32 percent (22-of-68) from the floor.

"Wake Forest played a great game," Bears coach Scott Drew said. "We kind of live by the three and die by the three and tonight we died by it. It was our third game in four days and we've got to get better post touches and more post scoring. Wake played a great game and they've got a great team."

Jeff Teague had 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Demon Deacons, who went 34-of-48 from the free-throw line in a contest filled with fouls.

"I kind of felt like we had something to prove and we came out and fought," Teague said. "They are a great team and they came out and played hard as well, but at the end of the game, we came out with the win."

Neither team could establish control in the first half with the largest lead being four points.

Wake Forest shot just 35 percent (12-of-34) and Baylor connected on 28 percent (9-of-32) in the first half and the Bears took a 31-30 lead into the locker rooms on LaceDarius Dunn's two free throws.

Henry Dugat scored 19 points and Curtis Jerrells had 16 to lead the Bears.