Allen, Plumlee lead No. 14 Duke past Wake Forest, 91-75
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) Grayson Allen scored 24 points and No. 14 Duke pulled away to beat Wake Forest 91-75 on Wednesday night.
Freshman Luke Kennard added 23 points, Marshall Plumlee finished with a career-high 18, and Brandon Ingram had 17 for the Blue Devils (13-2, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference).
They shot 52 percent and overcame some serious foul trouble to their thin seven-man rotation to win their fourth straight and open an ACC season with consecutive road victories for just the second time under coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Devin Thomas had 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Codi Miller-McIntyre had a season-best 20 points for the Demon Deacons (9-5, 0-2). They've lost three of four, also falling to No. 10 Xavier and No. 16 Louisville.
But when Thomas picked up his fourth foul with 8 minutes to play and Duke up 69-63, the Blue Devils took full advantage.
They immediately pushed their lead back to double figures, with consecutive dunks by Plumlee putting Duke up 73-63 with 6:45 remaining. Then, 3 minutes later - and with Thomas waiting at the scorer's table to finally return - the Blue Devils' big man hit another dunk to extend the lead back to 10.
That came after Wake Forest seemingly had the Blue Devils right where it wanted them, down just 58-54 after two key starters - Allen and Matt Jones - each picked up their fourth fouls 32 seconds apart early in the second half.
The Demon Deacons twice cut their deficit to two - the last time coming on Thomas' coast-to-coast layup with just under 10 minutes to play, before that big foul on the Wake Forest center came two possessions later.
TIP-INS
Duke: Some of Allen's best games have come at Wake Forest's expense. In the teams' last meeting, in the 2015 home finale, he lit up the Demon Deacons for a then-career-high 27 points.
Wake Forest: Cornelius Hudson finished with 12 points and three 3-pointers for Wake Forest, while freshman John Collins had 11 points. He and Ingram traded blocked shots a few minutes apart midway through the second half.
UP NEXT
Duke plays host to Virginia Tech on Saturday.
Wake Forest plays host to North Carolina State on Sunday.
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AP college basketball site: http://collegebasketball.ap.org
