No. 6 Wake Forest Tops BYU in Close Game

PROVO -- BYU men's basketball hung with No. 6 Wake Forest through almost the entire game, but fell just short in the last minutes as the Demon Deacons prevailed 94-87 on Saturday in the Marriott Center.

“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 loss at the Marriott Center is the first for the Cougars in 54 games. Prior to facing off against Wake Forest, BYU owned the nation’s longest home-court winning streak, 53 games.

After falling behind 14-5 just four minutes into the game, the Cougars used a 15-0 run to move ahead 20-14 at the 12:58 mark.

The teams would continued to play a close game throughout a first half that saw five ties and six lead changes.

With the score 45-43 in favor of the Deacons and only 0:20 left in the first half, Jimmer Fredette stole the ball at midcourt and drove in for a fast-break layup. He was fouled as he shot the ball, and following the play, Wake Forest center Chas McFarland was assessed a technical foul. Lee Cummard made both technical free-throws, and Jimmer Fredette made his free-throw, which gave the Cougars a three-point lead, 48-45 going into the break.

BYU’s defense held Wake Forest without a field goal for the last 3:14 of the first half. Fredette had 18 points in the first half on 7-of-11 shooting, and the Cougars were perfect 8-of-8 from the free-throw line as a team.

The Cougars continued their strong offensive play into the second half, and a Jackson Emery three-pointer put BYU up 62-54 at the 14:32 mark, when Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio called a timeout.

Poor three-point shooting hurt the Cougars down the stretch, as they were only able to make 4-of-17 attempts (23 percent) in the second half.

Neither team was able to pull away through the second half, and the teams were very close statistically as well. BYU out-rebounded the Deacons 46-42, and each team had 13 turnovers. Wake Forest out-scored the Cougars 36-35 in the paint, and had 10 fast-break points to BYU’s 14.

The teams fought back and forth throughout the second half until Wake Forest took the lead for good on a James Johnson tip-in.

Wake Forest’s Jeff Teague led all scorers in the game with 30 points. Fredette led the Cougars with 23 points and nine assists, and Jonathan Tavernari added 18 points. In all, five Cougars scored in double-figures.

Johnson had 15 rebounds, and Tavernari led BYU with nine. Cummard had seven boards to go with his 17 points.

“I was proud of how our guys fought," Rose said. "They played hard and battled hard.”

BYU falls to 11-2 this season, and Wake Forest improves to 13-0. The Cougars next take the hardwood on Tuesday, Jan. 6, when they make up the previously scheduled game against Western Oregon at the Marriott Center at 7:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on KSL Radio.

BYU will then head on the road to begin 2008-09 Mountain West Conference play when they face Colorado State in Fort Collins. The game will tip off at 1:00 p.m. and will be broadcast live on The Mtn. and KSL Radio.

CLICK HERE for postgame notes and quotes.

Official Basketball Box Score
Wake Forest vs BYU Cougars
1/3/09 6:05 pm at Marriott Center, Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: Wake Forest 13-0
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
01 Aminu,Al-Farouq..... f  5-8    1-2    3-3    1  6  7   4  14  0  3  3  0  33
23 Johnson,James....... f  9-14   1-2    3-5    4 11 15   2  22  2  3  2  1  31
13 McFarland,Chas...... c  3-7    0-1    3-6    1  4  5   3   9  2  3  1  0  27
00 Teague,Jeff......... g  8-12   2-4   12-14   0  4  4   3  30  4  1  0  1  37
42 Williams,L.D........ g  3-9    1-3    4-8    0  1  1   1  11  3  1  0  1  27
02 Clark,Gary..........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   2
04 Hale,Harvey.........    1-3    0-2    0-0    0  3  3   3   2  0  0  0  0   9
10 Smith,Ishmael.......    3-10   0-2    0-0    1  2  3   4   6  3  2  0  3  26
44 Weaver,David........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  0  0  0   5
55 Woods,Tony..........    0-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   3
   TEAM................                         2  2  4
   Totals..............   32-64   5-16  25-36   9 33 42  21  94 14 13  6  6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-33 51.5%   2nd Half: 15-31 48.4%   Game: 50.0%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-7  28.6%   2nd Half:  3-9  33.3%   Game: 31.3%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  9-11 81.8%   2nd Half: 16-25 64.0%   Game: 69.4%    5
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HOME TEAM: BYU Cougars 11-2
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ f  6-20   0-4    5-7    2  6  8   3  17  3  0  0  1  29
45 TAVERNARI, Jonathan. f  7-17   4-13   0-0    4  5  9   2  18  0  1  0  0  36
54 MILES, Chris........ c  1-3    0-0    0-0    2  2  4   5   2  3  1  0  0  17
04 EMERY, Jackson...... g  4-10   2-7    3-4    4  1  5   4  13  3  2  0  2  26
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer.... g  9-17   3-6    2-3    1  1  2   1  23  9  5  0  2  38
01 ABOUO, Charles......    3-8    1-2    3-3    1  4  5   5  10  1  1  0  0  23
02 MORGAN, JR., Lamont.    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  4  4   1   0  2  2  0  0   6
05 ROSE, Archie........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   3
15 ANDERSON, James.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0  0+
34 HARTSOCK, Noah......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   2   0  0  0  0  0   1
53 MACGREGOR, Gavin....    1-2    0-0    2-3    1  4  5   5   4  0  1  0  1  21
   TEAM................                         2  2  4
   Totals..............   31-77  10-32  15-20  17 29 46  28  87 21 13  0  6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-35 48.6%   2nd Half: 14-42 33.3%   Game: 40.3%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  6-15 40.0%   2nd Half:  4-17 23.5%   Game: 31.3%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  8-8  100 %   2nd Half:  7-12 58.3%   Game: 75.0%    1
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Officials: Joe Demayo, Kevin O'Connell, DJ Carstensen
Technical fouls: Wake Forest-McFarland,Chas. BYU Cougars-None.
Attendance: 23096
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Wake Forest...................   45   49  -   94
BYU Cougars...................   48   39  -   87
Points in the paint-WF 36,BY 35. Points off turnovers-WF 21,BY 25.
2nd chance points-WF 14,BY 17. Fast break points-WF 8,BY 13.
Bench points-WF 8,BY 14. Score tied-10 times. Lead changed-11 times.
Last FG-WF 2nd-01:29, BY 2nd-00:10.
Largest lead-WF by 9 1st-16:47, BY by 8 2nd-14:37.