Tuesday Night ACC Basketball

(Nell Redmond/AP Photo)

#4 DUKE 79, WAKE FOREST 71 -- Ryan Kelly scored a career-high 23 points and No. 4 Duke held on to beat Wake Forest on Tuesday night for its seventh straight win.

Kelly put up 20 points against the Demon Deacons for the third straight time, and Seth Curry finished with 15 points for the Blue Devils (26-4, 13-2 ACC).

Duke led by 23 points with 9 1/2 minutes left before Wake Forest made things tense late.

"Our defensive intensity was lacking there for a little stretch. That's something we can't have happen," forward Ryan Kelly said. "But to pull out a victory against a team that had been playing well at home, and be 8-0 (in league road games), is a huge accomplishment."

Nikita Mescheriakov and Chennault both had 18 points for the Demon Deacons (13-16, 4-11), who have lost two of three and eight of 10 with the only wins in that stretch coming against the only two teams -- Boston College and Georgia Tech -- they are ahead of in the league standings.