SATURDAY HOOPS

No. 6 WAKE FOREST 94, Brigham Young (Cougars, 26,928 students, Provo, UT) 87 – Evidently the key to the country’s longest home winning streak was to never play a ranked opponent – or at least to play as few as possible. Brigham Young had run the nation’s longest successful home stand to 53 while playing just one ranked opponent. The second one they played, No. 6 Wake Forest, put a stop to the fun.

The sixth ranked Deacons won where no opponent had for more than three years while stretching their record to 13-0 just two wins short of their best start ever (15-0).

Wake had to rally from an eight-point deficit in the second half and an entire game of deafening taunts and chants from the home fans, who were loud and rowdy throughout the night.

"In the ACC, there's some great crowds but this one was amazing," said Jeff Teague who has scored in double figures in 17 consecutive games and led the Deacs with 30 points.

James Johnson had 22 points and a season-high 15 rebounds for Wake Forest, who pulled away with an 8-0 run near the end and improved to 13-0 for the first time since the 1996-97 season. The Deacons have a week off before top-ranked North Carolina visits Winston-Salem on Jan. 11.

Wake Forest won despite “pulling a Clemson” going 16-for-25 from the foul line in the second half. That allowed the Cougars (11-2) to stay within range until the final minute. The crowd of 26,096 was the second-largest in Marriott Center history and the fans, thousands in matching white BYU T-shirts, were boisterous from the time the Deacons started warming up until the game ended. At one point, BYU coach Dave Rose had to tell the crowd to chill after a water bottle was tossed on the court.

BYU had not lost at the Marriott Center since Nov. 18 2005, against Loyola-Marymount in Dave Rose's coaching debut for the Cougars (11-2).

Notre Dame now has the nation's longest home win streak at 43.

No. 16 CLEMSON 79, East Carolina (Pirates, 25,590 students, Greenville, NC) 66 – Jerai Grant had a career-high 14 points and gave the Tigers a boost in the middle as the Tigers improved to 14-0 for the second time in three seasons. K.C. Rivers led the Tigers with 18 points. Booker had 13 points and nine rebounds. East Carolina slipped to 8-5 while losing their fifteenth straight to a ranked opponent.

No. 2 Xavier (Musketeers, 4,000 students, Cincinnati, OH) 84, VIRGINIA 70 – B.J. Raymond scored 24 points and hit four of No. 22 Xavier's nine 3-pointers Saturday, and the Musketeers (11-2) took a big early lead and never let up.

MIAMI 76, NC. Central (Eagles, 8,383 students, Durham, NC) 42 -- James Dews scored 16 points as Miami (10-3) shook off an early challenge from winless North Carolina Central on Saturday.

Alabama (Crimson Tide, 27,052 students, Tuscaloosa, AL) 88, GEORGIA TECH 77 – Playing like he did during his all-conference season three years ago, Ronald Steele scored 23 points and had 10 assists to lead Alabama (10-3) to victory over Georgia Tech (8-5) on Saturday.

The Tide used fast break points to jump out to a 19-point halftime lead and led by as many as 30, before the Yellow Jackets used a full-court press to close the gap in the final 10 minutes.

FLORIDA STATE 69, Texas A&M-CC (Islanders, 8,345 students, Corpus Christi, TX) 48 – Toney Douglas scored 17 points and Derwin Kitchen added 13 as Florida State beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (6-8) on Saturday.
The Seminoles (13-2) closed the game by outscoring the Islanders 29-14 over the final 11 minutes.

Florida (Gators, 35,528 students, Gainesville, FL) 68, N.C. STATE 66 – Nick Calathes (#33) scored 32 points and Dan Werner added 10 as Florida rallied to beat North Carolina State 68-66 on Saturday.

Calathes scored 24 points in the second half as the Gators overcame a 10-point halftime deficit.
The win was the sixth in a row for Florida (12-2), while the Wolfpack dropped to 9-3 heading into ACC play next week.

MARYLAND 85, Charlotte (Forty-niners, 13,654 students, Charlotte, NC) 75 – Greivis Greivis Vasquez scored 27 points and fueled a second-half surge that carried Maryland to its seventh straight victory over the team formerly known as UNCC on Saturday.

The Terps (11-2) trailed by 11 points in the first half, were down 3 at halftime and tied the game with 14:51 remaining before Vasquez drilled a 3-pointer to spark a 16-point run. The run gave Maryland a 65-49 advantage with 11:27 to go.

Vasquez went 8-for-19 from the floor, made four 3-pointers and sank all seven of his free throws. He fell one point short of matching his career high.

Landon Milbourne scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half and Maryland improved to 9-0 at home.

RaShad Coleman led Charlotte (5-7) with 21 points, but he made only two baskets after halftime .

Photos: Wake’s Chas McFarland dunks. (AP Photo.) Maryland's Greivis Vasquez (21) and Dino Gregory (33) battle for the ball against Charlotte's Phil Jones (30) during the second half. (AP Photo/Nick Wass) Florida's Nick Calathes (33) pushes his way for a shot against North Carolina's Ben McCauley (34) in the second half. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin) Virginia guard Calvin Baker (4) is fouled by Xavier forward Derrick Brown. (AP Photo/Andrew Shurtleff)