Tyree Appleby collected 18 points and eight assists to lift host Wake Forest to an 81-70 victory over No. 14 Duke in an Atlantic Coast Conference clash on Tuesday in Winston Salem, N.C.
Appleby made 13 of 14 shots from the free-throw line to propel the Demon Deacons (9-4, 1-1 ACC) to their seventh straight home win to open the season.
Cameron Hildreth recorded 16 points and nine rebounds and Damari Monsanto sank three 3-pointers to highlight his 13-point performance for Wake Forest.
Jaylen Blakes scored a career-high 17 points off the bench before fouling out and Mark Mitchell added 14 for the Blue Devils (10-3, 1-1), who saw their four-game winning streak come to a halt.
Duke captain Jeremy Roach contributed nine points in his return from a one-game absence due to a toe injury. Blue Devils forward Dariq Whitehead and center Dereck Lively II sat out Tuesday’s game due to non-COVID-related illnesses.
Duke shot just 29.6 percent from the 3-point range (8 of 27) while competing in its first true road game of the season.
Blakes sank a pair of 3-pointers to trim Wake Forest’s lead to 62-55 with 8:04 remaining in the second half, however Matthew Marsh responded by converting an alley-oop on the following possession.
Duke trimmed the deficit back to seven with 3:30 to play, but Appleby made a pair of free throws and Hildreth added a layup to give Wake Forest some breathing room. Monsanto added the exclamation point by banking home a 3-pointer with 31 seconds to play.
Mitchell made a 3-pointer to trim Duke’s deficit to one point with 11:10 remaining in the first half before Bobi Klintman, Monsanto and Andrew Carr each converted from beyond the arc to push Wake Forest’s lead to 29-21.
Duke cut the deficit to five on a number of occasions before Daivien Williamson and Hildreth sank a pair of free throws to give the Demon Deacons a 39-30 advantage at halftime.
Monsanto, who knocked down six 3-pointers in Wake Forest’s 81-57 loss to Rutgers on Saturday, converted from beyond the arc to push the Demon Deacons’ advantage to 60-46 with 11:35 to play.
–Field Level Media
