Redick’s 38 Points Snap Duke From Funk

Coach Mike Krzyzewski did what he could to help Duke avoid its first three-game losing streak in nine years. In the end, all he really needed was a career performance from J.J. Redick.

The junior scored a career-high 38 points after Krzyzewski shook up the starting lineup, and reserve Lee Melchionni had 15 to lead No. 7 Duke past No. 5 Wake Forest, 102-92, Sunday night in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Durham, N.C.

Duke, which improved to 19-4 overall and 9-4 in the conference, was coming off consecutive losses for only the fourth time in eight seasons.

The Blue Devils had their way with the Demon Deacons in the second half. After trailing by two at the break, Duke shot 61% from the field in the last 20 minutes to reach its highest point total of the season.

Chris Paul had 27 points for Wake Forest (22-4, 10-3), which fell out of a first-place tie with North Carolina.

Duke center Shelden Williams held his own in the matchup with Eric Williams, finishing with 12 points, nine rebounds and four blocks.

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No. 12 Louisville 84, St. Louis 66 -- Taquan Dean made five three-point shots, and the Cardinals (23-4, 11-2) put together their best offensive performance in weeks to defeat the Billikens (7-18, 4-8) in a Conference USA game at Louisville, Ky.

Louisville shot 30 for 61 for 49.2%, its best since converting 53% in a 99-52 win over Marquette on Jan. 26.

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No. 25 Villanova 80, No. 17 Pittsburgh 72 -- Allan Ray made five three-point shots and scored 21 of his 23 points in the second half to lift the Wildcats (17-6, 7-5) over the Panthers (18-5, 8-4) in a Big East game at Villanova, Pa.

Villanova made 12 of 23 from three-point range and won for the eighth time in 10 games.

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OTHER GAMES

Daryll Hill scored 20 points and St. John’s (9-14, 3-10) rode a strong first half to a 76-67 Big East victory over Georgetown (16-8, 8-5), possibly hurting the Hoyas’ chances for an NCAA tournament berth.... Steve Novak scored 22 points and Marquette (18-8, 6-7) dealt a blow to DePaul (16-7, 8-4) in the race for the Conference USA title with a 67-57 victory at Milwaukee.... B.J. Elder’s two free throws with 0.4 seconds left lifted Georgia Tech (15-8, 6-6) to a 76-75 win over Florida State (11-15, 3-9) in an ACC game at Tallahassee, Fla.... Robert Vaden had a career-high 18 to lead Indiana (12-11, 7-5) to a 70-63 win over Michigan (12-15, 3-10) in a Big Ten game at Ann Arbor, Mich.