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Sports

Hurt’s Career-Day Leads Duke Past Wake

Lawrence Davis III @LawDavis13 @SpecMagSports

DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke Blue Devils defeated the Wake Forest Demon Deacons 79-68 in Cameron indoor with Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski returning from quarantine. Duke forward Matthew Hurt finished the game with a career-high 26 points.

Duke defeated Boston College on January 6th without the normal guy calling plays on the sideline for their program for the last 41 years when Coach K had to quarantine due to being in close contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19. Coach Jon Scheyer filled in during Krzyzewski’s absence.

Duke opened the scoring on a jumper from sophomore forward Matthew Hurt to give the home team the 2-0 lead. Wake Forest would return back with an Isaiah Mucius midrange shot to tie it up at 2.

Matt Hurt dropped in a three-pointer to give Duke a three-point advantage that they would hold for the remainder of the half despite each team battling tennis-style with their mini runs. The Blue Devils never got larger than a six-point lead and went into halftime with a 37-33 advantage. 

Freshman DJ Steward led the way in the first half for the Blue Devils with 15 points on 5-of-9 field goals. Hurt finished the half with 11 points on only one missed shot in six attempts. Steward ended the game with 21 points and six rebounds.

Wake Forest would take the lead on a Mucius jumper with 17:06 remaining to give the Deacons the 43-42 advantage.

Duke would bounce right back with the backdoor layup from freshman guard Jeremy Roach on the Matt Hurt assist to make the score 44-43.

Both teams would trade leads until Duke broke the 55-55 tie with a 16-8 run to give the home team the 71-62 lead.

Duke would hold on to eventually win 79-68 to remain undefeated in conference play in their third attempt. Both Wake Forest and Duke came into the game with the fewest amount of games played with five (lowest) and six (t-second lowest), respectively. 

Hurt finished the game with a new career-high 26 points on 10-of-15 from the field including four made three-pointers. The 6-foot-9 forward also had six rebounds, two assists, and three steals.

Guard Daivien Williamson lead the way for the Demon Deacons with 17 points.

Duke has now won their last 22 matchups in Cameron Indoor against Wake Forest.

The Blue Devils (5-2, 3-0 ACC) will hit the road for their next contest to face the Virginia Tech Hokies on Tuesday, January 7 at 7 PM.