Duke routed Wake Forest on Saturday, but took its own sweet time doing so.
Scoring 15 straight second-half points, the No. 4 Blue Devils pulled away from the surprisingly stubborn Deacons in an 83-59 victory in front of a near-capacity crowd of 14,107 at rocking Joel Coliseum.
Kyle Singler poured in 24 points to help Duke overcome a rough shooting night by Nolan Smith, who finished with 19 despite making only six of 22 shots from the floor. But it was the play of sophomore Ryan Kelly and reserves Miles Plumlee and Tyler Thornton that made the difference down the stretch.
Kelly, a 6-11 sophomore averaging 5.9 points a game, was six of six on field-goal attempts, four of four from 3-point range and four of four from the foul line for a career-high 20 points. Miles Plumlee contributed eight points in 19 minutes and Thornton provided a defensive presence that helped force the Deacons into 17 turnovers.
Duke improved to 8-1 and 5-1 in the ACC. Wake Forest fell to 7-13 and 0-5 with its ninth loss in 10 games.
"I thought Thornton and Miles Plumlee really turned the game around for us,'' said Coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke. "Their energy was unbelievable, and Tyler's pressure on the ball really helped.
"Ryan Kelly was perfect. I mean, to get 20 points on six shots, you know, that's pretty effective. Miles Plumlee has had two really good games in a row, and Singler was a warrior throughout.''
Wake Forest, coming off back-to-back poundings by Virginia Tech (94-65) and Georgia Tech (74-39), showed enough grit to hold Duke to 43 percent from the floor and battle Duke fairly evenly on the backboards. But its recent offensive struggles caught up with it twice — in the first half when it played 12½ minutes without a field goal, and in the second when it failed to score at all for seven minutes.
The Deacons overcame the first drought to trail only 48-44 on C.J. Harris' 3-pointer with 17½ minutes remaining. But the second, during which they missed eight straight shots, proved insurmountable as the Blue Devils extended their lead to 78-52 before Travis McKie stopped the run with a follow shot off a miss by Gary Clark.
Fewer than three minutes remained, and Krzyzewski called a timeout shortly thereafter to substitute for Singler and Smith.
McKie led Wake Forest with 12 points and nine rebounds and Clark and Harris each scored 11.
"I think overall we definitely battled,'' said freshman center Carson Desrosiers of Wake Forest. "I think we kind of surprised them. We kind of blitzed them at the beginning and tried to hold up that intensity on our side. I think we lost it a little bit. They went on a run.
"But coming out at halftime we haven't been too strong all year. And today (the lead was) nine and we got it to four. They just hit a couple of baskets and we got down on ourselves again.
"Basketball is a game of runs, and you've got to be able to take them as well as go on them.''
Duke scored two of its points during the game-breaking surge after a technical foul on freshman J.T. Terrell of Wake Forest. Singler confronted Desrosiers after Desrosiers landed on Thornton along the baseline and McKie jostled with Singler in response.
The officiating crew of Karl Hess, Les Jones and Dwayne Gladden appeared close to sorting the incident out — with the help of Coach Jeff Bzdelik of Wake Forest and Krzyzewski — when Terrell pushed a Duke player from behind. Hess reviewed the play on videotape and assessed the technical against Terrell.
"I gave somebody a bump, or whatnot,'' Terrell said. "It was my fault. The refs made a good call.''
Seth Curry made the two free throws with 4:48 remaining and Kelly made two during the extended possession to push the lead to 76-52.
Kelly, a former high-school star from Raleigh who averaged only 6.5 minutes last season during Duke's run to the national championship, made four of four shots from the floor in an 11-point performance Wednesday against N.C. State.
"The shots went in today,'' Kelly said. "I approach every game the same, but I'm confident in my ability to put the ball in the basket and they've been going in the last couple of games. A few games before that, they weren't as much. That's something as a scorer, a player and a shooter that you have to have the confidence to know the next shot is going in.''
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