Wake Forest Defeats Cougars

WINSTON-SALEM -- Plagued by turnovers and missed shots, the BYU men's basketball team was unable to overcome its double-digit first-half deficit, falling 79-62 at Wake Forest on Tuesday. With the loss, the Cougars fall to 11-4 on the year as they head into Mountain West Conference play this weekend. The Deacons have yet to lose a game at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum this season, improving to 11-3 on the year and 10-0 at home.

"I thought the game would be a lot more competitive," said BYU head coach Dave Rose. "We weren't in any kind of a rhythm. We were all just taking shots. [Wake Forest] did things that caused us trouble in the post and defensively."

Shooting by the Deacons' two starting freshmen, Jeff Teague and James Johnson, proved too much for the Cougars as the underclassmen scored a combined 45 points. Lee Cummard and Jimmer Fredette were the lone Cougars scoring in double figures with 15 points apiece. Despite his 3-for-10 shooting night, Trent Plaisted pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.

The Deacons struck early, scoring the first two points of the game. Back-to-back dunks by Plaisted tied the game, 4-4, but poor ball handling by the Cougars gave Wake Forest the chance to quickly score. The shots wouldn't fall for Cummard, who went 0-for-5 before making his first three-pointer of the night with 13:51 remaining in the first half.

"You never anticipate bad shooting nights, but when those kinds of night happen you have to be able to turn around defensively and be ready for when things turn around," said Rose.

Coming off the bench, Fredette made his presence known, closing the lead to five points after a make from beyond the arc. The freshman continued to score, ending the first half with a team-high eight points. Wake Forest jumped out to a double-digit lead after Johnson's 2-for-2 trip to the charity stripe.

Both teams traded three-pointers as the first half came to a close, but the Cougars' attempt to cut the deficit to single digits fell short, heading into the break down 49-32 with the Deacons recording a 21-8 run.

Wake Forest's 49 points at the half marked the most allowed by BYU this season. At the break, the Deacons were shooting 58.8 percent from the field compared to the Cougars' 31.4.

The second half started similar to the first, with BYU turning the ball over three times in the first four minutes. Four quick points by Lee Cummard were not enough to claw into the Deacons' large lead heading into the first timeout of the half.

Fredette's third triple of the night came with 15:03 remaining in the game and was soon followed by a Cummard layup, bring the Cougars to within 12 points. BYU's comeback attempt would stop there, however, as Wake Forest went on a 6-0 run, returning to its 17-point lead.

With 11:23 remaining, Plaisted was sent to the charity stripe for the first time in the game, going 2-for-2. Cummard tipped in a missed jumper by Jonathan Tavernari but picked up his third foul on the night following a Wake Forest field goal.

Missed free throws and ball miscues maintained the Deacons' lead despite makes by Cummard and Fredette as the clock wound down to under three minutes.

"When you're not shooting the ball well, there are still a lot of opportunities to win a game," said Rose "Right now we're just not in a position to battle like that. A lot of our intensity is based on how we're doing on offense, and we need to change that."

Chris Miles scored his first points of the game on a turn-around jumper. He followed by blocking a Wake Forest shot on the opposite end of the floor.

Cummard fouled out of the game with 2:10 remaining on the clock. Six consecutive made free throws by the Deacons and one final field goal brought Wake Forest's lead back to rest at 17 points.

"Our focus right now is to see how we're going to respond," said Rose. "There are things that we really need to get better at. We need to challenge our players, and our players need to step up."

Up next the Cougars will open league play, hosting Colorado State on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. and will be televised on The Mtn. Fans who purchase two tickets for that game can receive two tickets of equal or lesser value to either the BYU vs. SDSU on Wed. Jan. 23 or the BYU vs. TCU on Wed. Feb. 6.

CLICK HERE for postgame notes and quotes.

CLICK HERE to read about promotions for BYU's next home game.

Official Basketball Box Score
BYU vs Wake Forest
01/08/08 7:00 p.m. at Winston-Salem, N.C. (Joel Coliseum)
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VISITORS: BYU 11-4
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... f  3-10   0-0    2-4    4  6 10   2   8  1  3  0  0  23
45 TAVERNARI, Jonathan. f  2-11   2-9    3-4    2  6  8   2   9  1  4  0  1  30
20 BURGESS, Sam........ g  1-3    1-3    0-0    1  2  3   1   3  0  2  0  1  21
24 MURDOCK, Ben........ g  2-4    2-4    0-0    1  2  3   3   6  4  2  0  1  26
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ g  7-17   1-5    0-0    2  3  5   5  15  2  3  0  0  33
01 LOYD, JR., Michael..    1-2    1-1    0-0    0  0  0   0   3  0  0  0  0  10
05 ROSE, Archie........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   2
10 IVANOVIC, Vuk.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  1  0  0   2
14 MARTINEAU, Nick.....    0-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  1  0  0  0   6
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer....    6-13   3-9    0-0    0  0  0   2  15  0  2  0  2  22
41 COLLINSWORTH, Chris.    0-1    0-0    0-0    1  3  4   0   0  0  3  0  0  10
54 MILES, Chris........    1-2    0-0    1-4    1  0  1   1   3  4  2  1  0  15
   TEAM................                         4     4
   Totals..............   23-64  10-31   6-12  16 22 38  18  62 13 22  1  5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-35 31.4%   2nd Half: 12-29 41.4%   Game: 35.9%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  7-19 36.8%   2nd Half:  3-12 25.0%   Game: 32.3%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-6  50.0%   2nd Half:  3-6  50.0%   Game: 50.0%    3
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HOME TEAM: Wake Forest 11-3
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
23 Johnson,James....... f  7-11   2-4    3-4    1  5  6   2  19  1  2  2  2  34
13 McFarland,Chas...... c  5-13   0-1    1-1    3  4  7   5  11  1  2  1  2  31
00 Teague,Jeff......... g  8-10   2-2    8-8    0  3  3   1  26  3  4  2  5  35
10 Smith,Ishmael....... g  4-8    0-1    2-2    1  6  7   0  10  4  2  1  0  37
42 Williams,L.D........ g  1-5    0-1    0-0    1  1  2   3   2  2  2  0  0  18
02 Clark,Gary..........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  0  0  0   2
04 Hale,Harvey.........    4-7    1-4    0-1    0  1  1   3   9  0  1  0  1  19
11 Stanley,Cameron.....    0-1    0-0    0-0    0  2  2   0   0  1  1  0  0   9
31 Skeen,Jamie.........    0-2    0-1    0-0    1  4  5   0   0  0  1  0  1  12
44 Weaver,David........    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  2  2   0   2  0  1  0  0   3
   TEAM................                                             1
   Totals..............   30-58   5-14  14-16   7 28 35  15  79 12 17  6 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 20-34 58.8%   2nd Half: 10-24 41.7%   Game: 51.7%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  4-8  50.0%   2nd Half:  1-6  16.7%   Game: 35.7%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  5-5  100 %   2nd Half:  9-11 81.8%   Game: 87.5%    1
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Officials: Jamie Luckie, Doug Sirmons, Tim Nestor
Technical fouls: BYU-None. Wake Forest-None.
Attendance: 12252
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
BYU...........................   32   30  -   62
Wake Forest...................   49   30  -   79
Points in the paint-BY 20,WF 34. Points off turnovers-BY 22,WF 21.
2nd chance points-BY 14,WF 9. Fast break points-BY 0,WF 8.
Bench points-BY 21,WF 11. Score tied-3 times. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-BY 2nd-01:39, WF 2nd-00:38.
Largest lead-BY None, WF by 19 2nd-19:23.