Duke shakes off loss, wallops Wake Forest

DURHAM, N.C. — It took some time, but No. 11 Duke found the ideal tonic to recover from a tough-to-digest result.

Forward Jabari Parker scored 21 points, but the Blue Devils were slow to heat up before routing visiting Wake Forest 83-63 Tuesday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Guard Rasheed Sulaimon added 19 points, and guard Andre Dawkins came off the bench to score 17 points, allowing the Blue Devils (18-5, 7-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) to shake off any potential hangover from a loss in a wild game three nights earlier.

“I couldn’t wait to play,” Duke guard Tyler Thornton said. “That was a rough loss up there (at Syracuse). Trying to get to our next game was important to me.”

Forward Devin Thomas scored 14 points for Wake Forest (14-9, 4-6), which lost its third game in a row. Demon Deacons freshman guard Miles Overton scored a season-best 12 points, and forward Arnaud-William Adala Moto added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Duke stretched its home-court winning streak to 29 games, tied for the longest run in the country.

The Blue Devils, who fell 91-89 in overtime Saturday in an epic clash with unbeaten Syracuse, haven’t suffered back-to-back regular-season losses in five seasons. The setback to the Orange was particularly disappointing.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said the Blue Devils had to “beat the emotion” of dealing with that result.

“All the plays from that game run through your mind,” Thornton said. “We wanted to get out there to have a good game and move forward.”

Duke’s depth appeared to be an important factor in the bounce-back victory.

“It’s keeping us fresh and everybody’s ready,” Duke guard Quinn Cook said. “When their number is called, everybody steps up.”

Duke, which made 15 shots from 3-point range at Syracuse, racked up 12 more Tuesday. Eight of those came in the first half.

“Every day after practice, we’re getting off a lot of 3s, and it’s showing,” Thornton said. “It’s paying off.”

Parker made eight of 10 shots from the field. He also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

The Demon Deacons were within 74-57 when Thomas fouled out at the 5:02 mark.

Duke built a 46-33 halftime lead after trailing for chucks of the opening half.

“They did a good job speeding up the court, and with the crowd behind them, they really got going,” Overton said. “We look forward to playing them at home. There are games before that, and we’ve got to get those.”

Blue Devils forward Rodney Hood was scoreless until breaking a 28-28 tie with eight consecutive points. It was part of a 12-0 run for Duke while Wake Forest was amid a stretch of turnovers on five possessions in a row. The Demon Deacons called two timeouts during that span.

“We hit a bad stretch there, and that gave them separation,” Wake Forest coach Jeff Bzdelik said. “It shows you how important each and every possession is.”

Wake Forest went more than seven minutes without a field goal late in the half after connecting on nine of 13 shots from the field to start the game.

A couple of reserve guards had early impacts as well.

Dawkins scored nine consecutive points to tie the score at 16. He posted 12 of the Blue Devils’ first 22 points.

For Wake Forest, Overton hit three jumpers — including two 3-pointers — as his eight points helped the Demon Deacons take a 21-16 lead. Overton was within a point of his career-high total less than seven minutes into the game.

Dawkins and Sulaimon combined for 22 of Duke’s first 24 points.

Wake Forest led 7-2 with Thomas scoring the first seven points for the Demon Deacons.

Both teams altered their starting lineups, with Thornton in the mix ahead of Cook for Duke.

Wake Forest went with Adala Moto instead of forward Tyler Cavanaugh. Madison Jones shifted to point guard with guard Codi Miller-McIntyre out due to an ankle injury, while guard Coron Williams entered the starting lineup.

Cavanaugh, who scored less than six points per game in the last four outings, was a reserve for the first time this season. He finished with nine points.