Spokesman-Review
National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Duke 79, Wake Forest 71
When: 9:00 PM ET, Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Where: Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Officials: #0 Sean Corbin, # Sean Hull, # Michael Stephens
Attendance: 11917

NO. 3 DUKE 79, WAKE FOREST 71: Ryan Kelly scored 23 points as visiting Duke won its seventh straight and completed a regular-season sweep of Wake Forest.

Kelly nailed 4 of 5 3-pointers, while Seth Curry hit 3 of 6 from beyond the arc.

The Blue Devils (26-4, 13-2 ACC) moved half a game ahead of North Carolina. The archrivals play Saturday in Durham in a game that likely will decide the ACC regular-season title.

Duke finished 8-0 in ACC road games, becoming the fourth Blue Devils squad to accomplish the feat.

The Demon Deacons (13-16, 4-11 ACC) lost for the eighth time in 10 games despite 18 points each from Nikita Mescheriakov and Tony Chennault.

Wake led 12-11 before Duke went on a 12-0 run to take command. The Blue Devils led 39-28 at the break, then withstood a late Wake Forest rally.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Duke, which entered as the ACC’s top-shooting team (46.5 percent), hit 45.3 percent from the field. ... Wake Forest was much more competitive than in its previous four games against ranked teams, when it lost by an average of 20 points. … The Demon Deacons’ C.J. Harris, who came in third in the in the ACC in scoring (17.0 points), was held to 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting.
Top Game Performances
 
Duke   Wake Forest
Ryan Kelly 23 Scoring Tony Chennault 18
Quinn Cook 3 Assists Nikita Mescheriakov 4
Miles Plumlee 11 Rebounds Carson Desrosiers 5
Mason Plumlee 8 Free Throws Made Tony Chennault 8
Austin Rivers 3 Steals C.J. Harris 2
Ryan Kelly 2 Blocks Ty Walker 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Duke 79 45.3 10-20 21-27 12 38 7 6 13
Wake Forest 71 43.3 6-17 13-16 11 26 4 4 10