WINSTON-SALEM -- Both Duke and Wake Forest came into Lawrence Joel Coliseum as two of the top-10 scoring teams in the nation. Only the Blue Devils showed why they deserved the recognition.
Led by a career-high 30 points from Mike Dunleavy and 26 from Jason Williams, Duke (24-2, 12-2 in the ACC) blew out Wake Forest 90-61 in Winston-Salem. It was the Blue Devils' 12th straight win against the Demon Deacons (18-9, 8-5).
Dunleavy and Williams were so prolific that when they left the game up 88-55, the two juniors had outscored the entire Wake Forest team.
Dunleavy knew he was heading toward a new scoring mark when a half-court buzzer beater went in to end the first half.
"I got a good rhythm off of it," Dunleavy said. "As good a rhythm as you can get on a half-court shot."
The shot gave Duke a 19-point halftime lead.
"You get a little bit lucky in something like that," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "But you put the ball in a good player's hands and you get a little luckier."
Dunleavy added nine rebounds, three steals and two blocks, and hit 6-of-8 shots from behind the arc. Eighteen of his points came on 7-of-8 shooting in the second half.
"After [the shot] in the second half, it made all the other shots easier," Dunleavy said. "They were all closer to the basket."
Although it never took the lead, Wake Forest hung around for the first 10 minutes of the game.
Williams had 10 of Duke's first 21 points, but a Taron Downey three-pointer with 11:17 remaining in the half cut the deficit to 21-17 for the Demon Deacons.
Wake Forest did not score another basket for nearly 11 minutes. By then, Duke had used a 24-8 run to put the game out of reach before Dunleavy's heroics.
"We're frustrated we didn't even give them a game," said point guard Broderick Hicks, who had one of only six assists for Wake Forest. "It looked like we hadn't practiced in months.
"Our fans are great, but we didn't give them much to cheer about past the first three or four minutes. They paid their good money and we only gave two good minutes, so I feel bad they had to watch that."
It was an ugly half for the Demon Deacons, who made seven shots from the floor and committed 15 turnovers.
"We knew we could win the game," Hicks said. "But not the way we played, turning the ball over in the first half. But it isn't all us-they were a great basketball team. You can feel the chemistry they have on the court."
Coming off a loss to Maryland, Duke made sure it would not suffer its first conference losing streak since January 1997.
Wake Forest was limited to 18 field goals for the game, which matched the Blue Devils' output for each half. With Demon Deacon forward Josh Howard out with a high ankle sprain, Duke was able to focus on the team's leading scorer and rebounder, Darius Songaila.
Songaila had been averaging over 20 points and nine rebounds in his last six games, but the 6-foot-9 senior was limited to 12 points and four rebounds to go along with a game-high eight turnovers.
"We tried to make sure he didn't get it in the post as much," Krzyzewski said. "He still missed some shots he usually hits."
Songaila was not the only one having trouble hitting his shots. Duke held Wake Forest to 61 points, the Demon Deacons' lowest output of the season, while the Blue Devils hit a season-high 63 percent from the field.
"We didn't give ourselves a chance to win," coach Skip Prosser said. "We got the ball close to the basket and didn't finish. We were on the free throw line and were 1-for-2, 1-for-2. For a team as good as Duke, we didn't put up a fight. It mystifies me, it's very disappointing. You have to give Duke credit."
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