Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO, Utah (AP) -- No. 6 Wake Forest ended the nation's longest home winning streak by beating BYU 94-87 on Saturday.
The Cougars had won 53 straight dating to a loss to Loyola-Marymount to open the 2005-06 season. Jeff Teague just missed his career high with 30 points and James Johnson had 22 points and 15 rebounds as the Demon Deacons improved to 13-0 for the first time since the 1996-97 season.
Wake Forest broke an 85-all tie with eight straight points in the final two minutes. Aminu Al-Farouq had 12 points and L.D. Williams scored 11 for the Demon Deacons.
Jimmer Fredette had 23 points and Lee Cummard scored 17 for the Cougars (11-2), who led by eight early in the second half but could not hold off the faster Deacons.
Johnson grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on a layup to put Wake Forest up 87-85, then pulled down another rebound after BYU missed. Williams and Chas McFarland each made a free throw to put the Deacons ahead 89-85 with 39 seconds left.
Wake Forest won despite going 16-for-25 from the foul line in the second half. The Deacons were 9-for-10 in the first half.
Notre Dame now has the nation's longest home win streak at 43.
The crowd of 26,096 was the second-largest in Marriott Center history and the fans, thousands in matching white T-shirts, were loud and rowdy -- sometimes too rowdy after a few calls went Wake Forest's way.
BYU coach Dave Rose took the public address microphone and told the fans to leave the game to the players and officials after someone threw a water bottle on the floor. Jonathan Tavernari had just been called for fouling Teague on a layup attempt, which he missed, but he made both free throws to get Wake within 64-62 with 12:10 left.
The Cougars also lost a potential three-point play when Fredette drove for a layup, but was called for an offensive foul before another official called a foul on Wake Forest. The offensive foul came first, so the basket was waved off and the fans were irate.
BYU kept its composure and Tavernari hit a 3-pointer, followed by a layup by Cummard after BYU forced a turnover to go up 69-62 with about 11 minutes left. Wake Forest crept back and tied it 72-72 on a free throw by Teague, who put the Deacons back ahead with a 3-pointer with about eight minutes to go.
BYU led 48-45 at halftime on a five-point play with 19 seconds left. Fredette took a steal in for a spinning reverse layup and drew a foul on McFarland, who said something that immediately drew a technical. Cummard made both shots for the technical, then Fredette stepped back to the line and made his free throw to give BYU the halftime lead.
Fredette had 18 points and five assists in the half.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
