Devils roar past Deacs

DURHAM

Razor-sharp Duke shredded Wake Forest's vaunted defense into tiny bite-size pieces in last night's 101-91 victory at steamy, deafening Cameron Indoor Stadium.

"We pride ourselves on our defense," junior Ish Smith said. "And to give up 101 points was ridiculous."

Gerald Henderson poured in 35 points and Jon Scheyer added 30 -- both career-highs -- as the Blue Devils deflected a Wake Forest rally by scoring on 24 of 33 second-half possessions. The Deacons shot 61 percent for the game and outrebounded Duke 34-23, but could never slow down the Blue Devils long enough to overcome an early 22-point deficit.

"We couldn't stop them," Coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke said. "But they couldn't stop us either."

The ninth-ranked Blue Devils improved to 22-5 and 8-4 in ACC play going into Wednesday's game at Maryland. The eighth-ranked Deacons fell to 20-5 and 7-5 in conference play going into Thursday's home game against N.C. State.

Duke's point total was easily the highest against Wake Forest since Boston College's 112-73 victory over the Deacons on Jan. 12, 2008. The Deacons have led the ACC in field-goal percentage for most of the season.

"We didn't bring it at all defensively," Jeff Teague of the Deacons said. "They really picked us apart.

"Guys are going to score the basketball, but there's no way anybody should score 100 points on us."

Teague scored 28 points and James Johnson finished with 26, fueling a second-half rally that twice cut the Blue Devils' lead to two at 76-74 and 80-78. But whereas it was the Deacons' 16 first-half turnovers that put them in the hole, it was their porous defense that allowed Duke to survive the storm.

After Al-Farouq Aminu's dunk off a Johnson lob pulled the Deacons to within 80-78 with 7½ minutes left, Ish Smith fouled Scheyer on a 3-point shot attempt. Scheyer hit all three attempts for a five-point lead.

"There were some offensive rebounds, some free throws and some unsmart fouls," Smith said. "I know I did one when we had it at two. All of that snowballed and the effect was a loss.

Teague answered with a running layup, but Teague and McFarland committed two of the Deacons' four second-half turnovers on the next two possessions. Meanwhile Elliot Williams made one of two free throws and Kyle Singler rebounded the miss to keep the possession alive. Henderson capitalized by drawing a foul from Johnson and making the two free throws for a six-point lead.

A possession later Singler followed in his own miss to extend the lead to eight with 5½ minutes left, and the Deacons could claw no closer than six the rest of the way.

"We were playing well," Teague said. "We were rolling and getting fouled and getting stops. And that's all we had to keep doing.

"But once we got to two I think we relaxed and we were like ‘Man.' We were so tired from fighting back. We should have just kept our composure and played well. We had the game in our hands, but we gave it away at the end."

Three of Wake Forest's starters, Teague, Johnson and Aminu played their first game at Cameron Indoor Stadium last night, and their unfamiliarity showed during the Blue Devils' 26-4 run that extended their lead to 41-19 with six minutes left in the half. Over Wake Forest's 19 possessions of the stretch, the Deacons committed 10 turnovers and made two of eight shots from the floor.

Duke scored 23 of its 51 first-half points off Wake Forest turnovers.

"I think the difference in the game was that in the first half we had too many turnovers," Coach Dino Gaudio of Wake Forest said. "We talk a lot about no turnovers for touchdowns.

"We had several turnovers for touchdowns where we couldn't guard them."

The Deacons, finally finding their range, scored on 28 of their next 32 possessions to climb back into contention with seven minutes remaining. But with Duke shooting 56 percent in the second half and 54 percent for the game, the Deacons could never completely close the gap.

"We were trading baskets and trading baskets, and when you're down you can't trade baskets," Smith said. "You've got to get stops.

"We thought all we needed to do was just take the lead one time. Duke wouldn't allow us to. They did a great job."

Gaudio disputed the notion that the rally sapped his team of its stamina, but acknowledged that the defensive effort was far from his team's best.

"I will say this," Gaudio said. "If someone would have said we were going to score 91 points and we lose, I think I would have called them a liar."

■ Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.

WAKE FOREST

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Aminu 24 2-3 3-4 2-6 0 2 7

Johnson 35 11-17 3-4 4-11 2 3 26

McFarland 16 2-2 2-2 1-2 1 4 6

Teague 38 10-16 6-6 0-2 1 4 28

Williams 38 4-8 0-0 2-5 0 4 10

Clark 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Hale 1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

Smith 34 6-10 0-0 0-2 5 4 12

Weaver 8 1-2 0-0 1-2 0 0 2

Woods 2 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 0 0

Totals 200 36-59 14-16 12-34 9 22 91

Percentages: FG .610, FT .875. 3-Point Goals: 5-9, .556 (Teague 2-2, Williams 2-3, Johnson 1-4). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 2 (Johnson, McFarland). Turnovers: 20 (Smith 5, McFarland 4, Aminu 4, Johnson 4, Teague 2, Weaver). Steals: 1 (Williams). Technical Fouls: None.

DUKE

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Singler 36 5-14 0-0 3-6 2 1 11

Henderson 31 11-15 12-14 0-1 2 2 35

Thomas 33 3-5 1-2 4-6 1 3 7

Williams 32 5-8 1-3 0-1 1 4 11

Scheyer 37 8-16 9-11 4-4 3 2 30

Smith 9 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 5 3

Paulus 9 0-0 4-6 0-0 1 1 4

McClure 10 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0 0

Plumlee 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Totals 200 33-61 27-36 11-23 11 18 101

Percentages: FG .541, FT .750. 3-Point Goals: 8-23, .348 (Scheyer 5-10, Smith 1-2, Henderson 1-4, Singler 1-6, Williams 0-1). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 2 (Singler, Thomas). Turnovers: 6 (Henderson 3, Smith, Williams, Scheyer). Steals: 10 (Williams 4, Singler 2, Scheyer 2, Henderson, Thomas). Technical Fouls: None.

Wake Forest 40 51 -- 91
Duke 51 50 -- 101

A--9,314.