Cooper Flagg recorded 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists to help rescue No. 2 Duke in a wild second half as the Blue Devils rallied to beat Wake Forest 63-56 on Saturday at Winston-Salem, N.C.
Kon Knueppel added 15 points and Mason Gillis had 11 points off the bench as the Blue Devils (17-2, 9-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) extended their winning streak to 13 games.
Wake Forest (15-5, 7-2) had a six-game winning streak, which was its longest in 20 years, halted.
Freshman Juke Harris scored 14 points off the bench and Hunter Sallis provided 12 points, but that left him about seven points below his season average.
Wake Forest couldn’t overcome 37.3-percent shooting from the field. That included 3-for-18 on 3-pointers in suffering its first loss in 11 home games this season.
Duke used a 14-2 spurt to burst into the lead at 53-47 with 3:54 left on a pair of Flagg free throws. Proctor’s 3-pointer made it 56-49 and Gillis’ second 3-pointer down the stretch pushed the edge to 58-52.
Wake Forest outscored Duke 23-4 across the first 10 minutes of the second half, going ahead 45-39 and thrilling most of the sellout crowd. But those visions of a home upset of the Blue Devils for the second season in a row faded.
Duke finally got untracked on a basket by Knueppel and Gillis’ 3-pointer. The Blue Devils took the lead at 48-47 on Flagg’s drive at the 5:44 mark.
Wake Forest scored the first seven points of the second half in less than three minutes, reversing a trend of sluggish offense. Sallis had the first five of those points and the Demon Deacons kept pouring it on.
Barely more than 10 minutes into the game, Duke held a 16-6 lead. Wake Forest began the game going 3-for-14 from the field.
Knueppel racked up 12 first-half points as the Blue Devils led 35-22 at the break after Sallis’ dunk at the buzzer. The Demon Deacons shot 29.6 percent from the field and 6-for-12 on free throws in the half, missing all nine of their 3-point attempts.
The Demon Deacons were hurt by Tre’Von Spillers’ two early fouls. He ended up with nine points.
–Field Level Media
