Duke defeats Wake Forest 75-73
Duke kept their perfect record this season at Cameron Indoor Stadium alive Tuesday night in their 75-73 defeat of Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons have now lost four games in a row, and drop to 14-9, and 6-6 in the ACC.
Despite Tyree Appleby’s 27 points, Wake Forest was not able to overcome a very poor shooting night from deep. The Demon Deacons shot 9-31 (29%) from distance in the game. Duke took the lead in the final four minutes of the first half, and never surrendered it.
Despite neither team scoring more than five points in a row in the second half of the first 20 minutes, Duke was able to break open a healthy seven-point halftime lead. Jeremy Roach led the way with 17 points in the half, while Wake Forest could only muster 36.7% shooting from the field. Duke also outrebounded Wake Forest 22-11 in the first half.
The Deacs opened the second half shooting even worse than they did in the first, only mustering 1/10 from the field. But, despite allowing Duke to open the second half on a 10-4 run, Cameron Hildreth brought the Deacs back within 10 with a drilled three-pointer.
Trailing 70-66 with 83 seconds remaining, Appleby was at the line with a chance to make it a one possession game for the first time in the second half. But the 82.6% free throw shooter couldn't get it to drop.
On the ensuing posession, Kyle Filipowski delivered a dagger three-pointer from the top of the key, giving Duke a seven-point lead with 46 seconds remaining.
The final score makes it seem like Wake was on the precipice of taking the lead, but a near half court shot from Appleby at the buzzer to cut the lead to two was meaningless.
Wake Forest Team Stats:
24-64 FG (37.5%), 9-31 3PT (29.0%), 16-17 FT (94.1%), 32 reb, 9 TOs
Duke Team Stats:
27-54 FG (50.0%), 6-17 3PT (35.3%), 39 reb, 14 TOs
Wake Forest Key Players:
Tyree Appleby: 27 pts, 9-19 FG, 2-5 3PT, 5 reb, 4 TOs
Damari Monsanto: 14 pts, 4-16 FG, 3-12 3PT
Andrew Carr: 11 pts, 3-11 FG, 1-7 3PT, 3 stl
Duke Key Players:
Jeremy Roach: 21 pts, 9-16 FG, 2-3 3PT
Tyrese Proctor: 17 pts, 6-11 FG, 3-7 3PT
Kyle Filipowski: 16 pts, 6-14 FG, 11 reb
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Essex is the lead football writer and a managing editor for Deacons Daily. Essex served as the Sports Editor for the Old Gold & Black for two years, in addition to roles as a beat and feature writer.