BY BRET STRELOW
SALISBURY POST

Jason Williams and Mike Dunleavy have hit enough important shots for Duke that opponents now expect the pair of juniors to come through in the clutch.

But even if the devilish duo struggles, Duke has other options that are more than capable of stepping in.

Williams and Dunleavy had trouble finding their touch from behind the 3-point arc in the second half, but youthful guards Chris Duhon and Daniel Ewing nailed timely trifectas to lead the Blue Devils to a 79-64 win against Wake Forest in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament on Saturday.

The Blue Devils (28-3), who face N.C. State in today’s final at 1 p.m., led by one point with 11 minutes left before they knocked down four consecutive 3s.

“That’s one aspect of the game they take pride in,”Wake Forest swingman Craig Dawson said.“All of them can shoot it, so you have to respect each and every one of them. They can knock it down at any time.”

Dunleavy, in particular, helped the Blue Devils build a big lead early by scoring 16 first-half points, but he and Williams went a combined 1 of 9 from beyond the arc after halftime.

The Demon Deacons (20-12) cut Duke’s lead to 51-50 with 11:08 to play and had a chance to take the lead on a 3 by Dawson.

His attempt missed, though, and Ewing knocked down a trifecta on Duke’s next trip down the floor.

Duhon, who finished with 10 points, then hit a 3 of his own to give the Blue Devils a 57-52 edge.

“A lot of people expect something to either come from Mike, Carlos (Boozer) or I, but Chris and Dan can step up and hit a big shot,”said Williams, who shot 2 of 8 from the arc and scored 15 points.

“Dan had already passed up a couple of big-time opportunities. He’s been doing it off and on throughout the year, where sometimes he would, sometimes he won’t.”

To Williams’ credit, he helped give Duke another boost with his only 3-point make of the second half.

Wake had closed to within 58-55 when Josh Howard tried to tie the game with a 3. Howard’s shot missed, and Williams put Duke ahead 61-55 with a jumper from the left corner.

Ewing got loose in the same corner 37 seconds later and hit another 3-pointer to give the Blue Devils a nine-point lead with 7:48 left.

“Those 3s were unbelievable,”Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

Said Wake coach Skip Prosser, “The spurt they had in the second half just buried us. Once we got down, we couldn’t come back from it.”

Ewing finished with only eight points, but he found open spaces in the Demon Deacon zone that had given Duke plenty of trouble.

Ewing credits players such as Williams and Dunleavy for allowing him to have such good looks at the basket.

“They make it easier for me because when I’m in the game, all the focus is basically on them,”Ewing said. “The guys drop off of me and I stand over there by myself wide open. I just have to knock down my shots.”

Dunleavy (18 points) and his Blue Devil teammates were knocking down all of their shots early in the game.

Duke, which scored 28 points in the first 20 minutes against North Carolina on Friday, amassed almost that many in the first six minutes on Saturday.

The Blue Devils connected on their first nine tries from the floor against Wake and led 25-7.

Prosser walked in for the press conference after the game and attempted to put a humorous touch on the Deacons’ slow start.

“Hopefully I open the press conference better than we opened the game,”he said.

Wake switched to the zone in the first half and fought back with a 15-3 run just before the break.

Guard Broderick Hicks, who scored 14 points, had seven in the run, which helped the Deacs get within 37-32.

“We’ve gotten down early before, and we’ve been up early before,”Hicks said. “You don’t want to do that against Duke.

“We didn’t panic, we just played our game. Our players have a lot of guts.”

Darius Songaila led Wake with 16 points but fouled out with 6:12 left. Vytas Danelius (11 points) and Dawson (10 points) also reached double figures.

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Contact Bret Strelow at 704-797-4258 or bstrelow@salisburypost.com .