ESPN Men's Basketball

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Ishmael Smith scored 21 points Saturday to help Wake Forest beat Virginia 69-57.

Chas McFarland added 16 points for the Demon Deacons (14-4, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who blew the game open with an 18-1 run spanning halftime. Wake Forest got plenty of close looks early and shot 52 percent, while its defense completely shut down the league's surprise first-place team.

Sylven Landesberg scored 18 points as the Cavaliers (12-5, 3-1) shot just 34 percent and managed 15 first-half points. They also went 10 minutes without a field goal during the decisive run, with Landesberg on the bench for much of that with early foul trouble.

Virginia was picked to finish 11th in the 12-team ACC, but entered as the last unbeaten team in league play for the first time since the 1994-95 season. The Cavaliers also had an eight-game winning streak, their longest in six years.