Wake Forest Holds Off Duke

The fans didn’t storm the court and Wake Forest’s players didn’t go wild in celebration. Suddenly, beating Duke has become routine.

Chris Paul scored 23 points and Wake Forest withstood a flurry of late three-point baskets to hang on for a 92-89 victory over Duke on Wednesday night.

The seventh-ranked Demon Deacons, who improved to 18-3 overall and 6-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, have now defeated No. 4 Duke (16-2, 6-2) three times in a row at home.

“It’s not a crazy, unbelievable upset anymore when we beat a North Carolina or a Duke,” Paul said. “That’s because we know we can beat anyone as long as we just treat them like anyone else. Don’t get too up, don’t get on a high horse, just treat them like any other team and we can play with them.”

For most of the game, the Demon Deacons appeared headed toward an easy victory as they built a 14-point lead.

But J.J. Redick made a trio of three-pointers in the final 2:14 and Sean Dockery also made one as Duke cut it to 90-89 with three seconds to play.

The Blue Devils had to foul and sent Taron Downey to the free-throw line with 2.2 seconds left. For Downey, it was a flashback to a Jan. 18 game at Florida State when he missed a free throw that would have won the game in regulation. Instead, it went to overtime and the Deacons lost.

“I thought about Florida State, I’m not going to lie,” Downey said. “I just stood up there and said, ‘Please don’t let them be short, let them go in.’ ”

He made them both to make it 92-89. Duke had one last chance, but Redick’s off-balance three-pointer fell short at the buzzer.

“Actually, I thought it was going to bank in for sure,” Redick said. “I just left it a little short.”

Eric Williams finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds for Wake Forest. Justin Gray had 16 points and Vytas Danelius had 12.

Redick finished with 33 points and made five of 13 three-point shots.