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Teague, Aminu help Wake Forest bounce back

Feb 9, 2009 - 2:02 AM WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Ticker) -- After a pair of road losses, sixth-ranked Wake Forest looked comfortable back at home.

Jeff Teague scored 27 points and freshman Al-Farouq Aminu added 26 as the Demon Deacons snapped a two-game slide with a 93-76 win over Boston College on Sunday.

James Johnson added 12 points and 10 boards for the Demon Deacons, who were coming off losses at Georgia Tech and Miami.

"I think it was a terrific win for us against a team that really played well," Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio said. "Coming in we were a little bit down, having lost two in a row. I think it was a real character win by our guys."

After beginning the season 16-0 and reaching No. 1 in the country, the Deacons entered Sunday's contest with losses in three of their last four games - all three to teams currently behind them in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings.

"As you go through the season, you are constantly evolving and changing," Gaudio said. "This thing we know is a marathon. We are running a pretty good race so far. We might stumble a little bit, but we are running a pretty good race. I told the boys we are in the ACC and we have pressure to win this game. That's where we are at, we are in the ACC."

But Teague kept Wake Forest in the game with 21 points in the first half while the rest of the team shook off the sting of the previous two defeats. Teague went 5-of-8 from the floor and 8-of-8 from the free-throw line in the opening 20 minutes.

"Once you're out there and you have the team chemistry - everybody's (cheering) for everyone, everybody wants to win, and everyone's playing together - it's always fun," Teague said. "To have games like that, everything's going right."

Aminu woke up after the break, pouring in 21 to help Wake Forest (18-3, 5-3 ACC) pull away.

"Coach just said keep running," Aminu said. "It really doesn't matter if you score or not, you just have to keep working hard and you'll find a rhythm."

After Joe Trapani hit a layup to give the Eagles a 52-50 lead early in the second half, Aminu hit two straight shots and Teague nailed a 3-pointer to give the Deacons the lead for good.

Aminu scored 11 points during a 21-7 run over seven minutes that put Wake Forest on top, 85-68 with 5:12 remaining.

"I thought we were a little too relaxed defensively, because we were worried about picking up fouls," Boston College coach Al Skinner said. "We did not execute defensively very well. We lost guys. At times, we had poor recognition on the defensive end.

"We lost our concentration. Offensively, we couldn't get the shots that we wanted. I thought we were hesitant. We did not take the ball to the basket aggressively. At times, we just conceded."

Trapani scored 19 points to lead Boston College (18-7, 6-4), which had its five-game winning streak snapped. The Eagles shot just 9-of-24 in the second half and finished the contest 6-of-21 from beyond the arc.

"Their defense was basically the same as it was in the first half," Skinner said. "We just didn't execute as well. I thought at times we got impatient. Instead of attacking the basket, we settled for shots. We needed to be a little more aggressive than what we were."