By james art 
Cooper Flagg had 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists to help rescue No. 2 Duke in a torrid second half as the Blue Devils rallied to beat Wake Forest 63-56 on Saturday in Winston-Salem, N.C. Kon Knueppel added 15 points and Mason Gillis had 11 points off the bench as the Blue Devils (17-2, 9-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) extended their winning streak to 13 games. Wake Forest (15-5, 7-2) snapped a 20-year six-game hitting streak. Freshman Juke Harris scored 14 points off the bench and Hunter Sallis added 12 points, but that left him about seven points below his season average. Wake Forest was unable to overcome 37.3 percent shooting from the field. That included going 3-for-18 on three-pointers in suffering his first loss in 11 home games this season. Duke used a 14-2 spurt to take a 53-47 lead with 3:54 left after a pair of Flagg free throws. Proctor’s 3-pointer made it 56-49, and Gillis’ second 3-pointer in overtime made it 58-52. Wake Forest outscored Duke 23-4 in the first 10 minutes of the second half, taking a 45-39 lead and thrilling most of the sellout crowd. But those visions of a second straight season for the Blue Devils at home have faded. Duke was finally untracked on a basket by Knueppel and a 3-pointer by Gillis. The Blue Devils took a 48-47 lead on a layup by Flagg at the 5:44 mark. Wake Forest scored the first seven points of the second half in less than three minutes, reversing the trend of a sluggish offense. Sallis had the first five of those points and the Demon Deacons kept pouring it on. Just over 10 minutes into the game, Duke led 16-6. Wake Forest started the game 3-for-14 from the field. Knueppel had 12 points in the first half as the Blue Devils led 35-22 at the break after Sallis’ dunk at the buzzer. The Demon Deacons shot 29.6 percent from the field and 6-for-12 on free throws in the half, missing all nine of their 3-point attempts. The Demon Deacons were hurt by two early fouls by Tre’Von Spillers. He finished with nine points. –Field level media
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