The game was much closer than the final score indicates. The score was tied 10 times and the lead changed 11 times. Wake Forest's largest lead was nine, early in the first half, and the Cougars led by eight twice, with the latest being at the 13:27 mark of the second half. Still, the Cougars say there's no silver lining or moral victory in just playing the best teams close.

"We lost and we're disappointed by it," Cummard said.

It was game that featured several scoring runs by each team, with the Cougars having a 15-0 run in the first half and Wake Forest having two 9-0 runs and one 11-0 run. Unfortunately for BYU, Wake Forest had the last run — an 8-0 stretch in the final 90 seconds that finished the Cougars off.

"I'm proud of our kids," Gaudio said. "We were down eight in the second half and we could have folded our tents. But we hung in there and we fought."

Ironically, the Cougars dominated an area where Wake Forest has been dominant this season — the offensive glass. The Cougars had 17 and the Deacons only nine, with six of those coming in the second half.

"But out of those six, two or three were really big," Rose said.

The biggest was Johnson's putback with 1:29 left to put Wake Forest up 87-85 after Cummard hit 1-of-2 free throws to tie the game. After a missed trey by Tavernari, a free throw by L.D. Williams gave the Deacons an 88-85 lead. A free throw by Chas McFarland put Wake Forest up by four.

On BYU's next possession, Emery missed a 3-pointer and a tip by Tavernari hung on the rim for several seconds before falling off. The Cougars then missed two more 3-pointers and a jumper, while the Deacons hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final 24 seconds.

"We had a lot of opportunities, but we just couldn't seem to get a rhythm in those last four or five minutes of the game," Rose said.

A big problem for BYU, however, was fouls. The Cougars racked up 29 for the game, and centers Chris Miles and Gavin MacGregor both fouled out - forcing the Cougars to have a make-shift lineup on the court for the final two minutes.

"We didn't have our five men on the floor, which is important for us to run what we run," Rose said.

GAME NOTES: The 23,096 fans packed to the rafters made it the second-largest crowd ever at the Marriott Center. ... A few of those fans, however, got a little out of control for a brief moment in the second half, throwing towels, shirts and an empty water bottle onto the court in protest of three straight controversial fouls against BYU. While Rose said the students had "a good point" in their objection to the calls, throwing items onto the court was not proper. So Rose grabbed the microphone and asked the students to refrain from such activity. "It's one of those situations where you need to make sure you let the players play, the refs ref, and everyone else watches."

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E-mail: jimr@desnews.com