Associated Press

Wake Forest's Chas McFarland (right) beats UVa's Mustapha Farrakhan to a loose ball on Saturday.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Tony Bennett probably is in a majority of men's college basketball coaches who routinely will sit a player after his second personal foul of the first half.

That piece of strategy came back to bite him Saturday.

UVa scoring leader Sylven Landesberg sat out the final 12:28 of the first half and Wake Forest was able to build a 19-point lead en route to a 69-57 victory at Joel Coliseum.

"It's something that you just try and have a feel for," Bennett said. "I might have to reconsider now, being down what we were [34-15] at the half."

Wake Forest (14-4 overall, 4-2 ACC) stretched its lead to 24 points at 55-31 with 8:08 left, although the Cavaliers (12-5, 3-1) twice trimmed the deficit to 10 points in the final minute.

Virginia, which entered play Saturday as the only ACC team with an unbeaten conference record, lost for the first time in nine games. It was Wake's eighth straight victory over the Cavaliers in Winston-Salem.

The Deacons were led by a pair of seniors, 6-foot point guard Ish Smith and 7-foot post man Chas McFarling. Smith finished with a game-high 21 points, converting seven of 10 free throws in the final 3:36, and McFarling had 16 points in 28 minutes.

UVa's 6-9 Jerome Meyinsse had no answer for McFarland, who had four field goals -- all layups -- in the first 5:15.

"We worked so hard in practice, focusing on their main guys, Ish Smith and Al-Farouq [Aminu]," Landesberg said. "When McFarland was getting off the way he did, it was very frustrating."

The Deacons already had begun to pull away when Landesberg picked up his second foul with 12:28 remaining before the half, causing Bennett to substitute for him.

"As soon as I came out after the second foul, I told him I was good and I could play through the situation," said Landesberg, hardly a serial fouler, with two disqualifications in 44 games before Saturday. "He told me, 'We'll see how it goes.' I don't know what the score was, but, with six minutes left, he said, 'You know what, we'll just save you for the second half.'

A Meyinsse free throw cut the margin to 20-15 with 6:04 left, but the Deacons scored the last 14 points of the half.

"The game got out of hand," Bennett said. "Usually, I hold a guy out with two fouls. We talked about it on the bench during one of our timeouts. Then, all of a sudden, there was 2 ¹₂ or three minutes left and we said, 'To put Sylven back in now would be really foolish if he picked up another one."

Landesberg scored UVa's first seven points of the second half but was getting little support from the same players who also had failed to hold the fort in the first half. Junior forward Mike Scott, the Cavaliers' second-leading scorer for the season, missed the final 7:53 of the first half after picking up his second foul and was no factor in the second half.

Scott was 1 for 5 from the field and did not have a rebound in nine minutes of second-half action.

Landesberg finished with 18 points before fouling out with 2:18 left and it took a late spurt for reserves Jeff Jones and Mustapha Farrakhan to join him in double figures with 10.

UVa might have made it a little more exciting if Farrakhan had not missed a 3-pointer, missed two free throws and committed a turnover in the final minute. The Cavaliers, shooting 85.5 percent on free throws in ACC play before Saturday, finished 8 for 16.

Sophomore guard Sammy Zeglinski, averaging 10.6 points before Saturday, went 0 for 5 from the field and 1 for 3 from the line. Zeglinski, whose father played football and baseball for the Deacs, was booed every time he touched the ball.

"I don't know what that was about," he said. "I think we're all eager to play them again in Charlottesville."

Wake's McFarland said the Deacons may have been at an advantage Saturday because they use the "Pack Line" defense that is associated with Bennett and his father, Dick, formerly the head coach at three Division I programs.

"We knew what was coming because we see it every day in practice," McFarland said.

In fact, Wake coach Dino Gaudio installed the Pack Line at Wake after consulting with Dick Bennett.

"After watching this," the younger Bennett said Saturday, "he might want to claim Dino and disown me."

VIRGINIA (12-5)

Scott 3-10 0-0 6, Meyinsse 1-2 1-3 3, Evans 2-4 0-0 4, Zeglinski 0-5 1-3 1, Landesberg 6-13 5-6 18, Farrakhan 4-11 1-4 10, Sene 0-1 0-0 0, Sherrill 2-9 0-0 5, Jones 4-10 0-0 10, Tat 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-65 8-16 57.

WAKE FOREST (14-4)

Aminu 3-8 4-5 10, McFarland 7-9 2-4 16, Smith 7-10 7-10 21, Harris 1-3 4-4 7, Williams 1-1 2-4 4, Clark 1-3 0-0 3, Stewart 1-8 0-0 3, Weaver 0-0 0-0 0, Woods 2-2 1-2 5. Totals 23-44 20-29 69.

Halftime--Wake Forest 34-15. 3-Point Goals--Virginia 5-21 (Jones 2-6, Landesberg 1-2, Farrakhan 1-3, Sherrill 1-5, Evans 0-2, Zeglinski 0-3), Wake Forest 3-10 (Clark 1-3, Stewart 1-3, Harris 1-3, Smith 0-1). Fouled Out--Evans, Landesberg. Rebounds--Virginia 29 (Landesberg, Meyinsse, Sherrill 4), Wake Forest 42 (Aminu 10). Assists--Virginia 6 (Evans, Farrakhan, Zeglinski 2), Wake Forest 13 (Smith 6). Total Fouls--Virginia 25, Wake Forest 14. A--13,831.