By Bret Strelow
bstrelow@salisburypost.com
WINSTON-SALEM ó James Johnson understood why Wake Forest teammate Jeff Teague commanded so much attention.
Johnson still couldn’t believe how open he became.
With Teague acting as a decoy, Johnson received an inbounds pass from L.D. Williams and made a layup with 0.8 seconds left to lift the sixth-ranked Demon Deacons to a 70-68 victory against No. 1 Duke on Wednesday night.
Wake, which also beat a top-ranked North Carolina team at home, has won five of its last six games against Duke at Joel Coliseum.
“We work hard, and we don’t put anybody in front of us no matter where you’re ranked at,” said Johnson, who is from Cheyenne, Wyo. “We don’t care if you’re the Denver Nuggets or the Lakers. We’re going to treat you like everybody else and play our hardest against you.”
Duke’s Gerald Henderson hit a game-tying jumper with 9.8 seconds remaining, and Teague missed a runner at the other end. Al-Farouq Aminu failed on a tip attempt, and Henderson grabbed the defensive rebound.
He was called for traveling as he crashed to the floor with 2.6 seconds left, and Wake coach Dino Gaudio used a timeout to draw up a set the Deacs (17-1, 4-1 ACC) had never run before.
“We were horrible in defending the last play,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski admitted.
Krzyzewski had instructed his players to switch on screens with Williams looking to inbound from a baseline spot close to the basket.
Teague darted from the far corner to the opposite wing, and Henderson left Johnson to pursue Wake’s star guard.
“We knew everybody was going to key on Jeff Teague ó he’s the man. He’s the one who scores for us, puts buckets up for us.
“Henderson was on me, and he switched out. Who wouldn’t? You’ve got to switch out to (Teague). After that happened, it was just a free lane.”
Johnson broke toward the basket from the right wing, caught a bounce pass and scored without taking a dribble.
He made himself available by sliding between Duke’s Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler, who was facing the baseline with two arms raised as he guarded the throw-in.
“We were drawing in the sand a little bit, but they did a great job,” Gaudio said.
It was no accident that Gaudio aligned Johnson as the third and final screener for Teague. Henderson made the appropriate defensive decision, but Duke’s four other players let Johnson take a clear path to the rim.
“I was like, ‘Geez, I just gotta finish,’ ” Johnson said. “That was it.”
Johnson totaled 13 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks as Teague struggled through an 11-point performance. Aminu also had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Singler led the Blue Devils (18-2, 5-1) with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Henderson scored 20 points, and his final jumper capped a 20-7 run that enabled Duke to erase a 61-48 deficit in the final 81/2 minutes.
“We didn’t want to have to be the team that would have to take a loss to learn a lesson, but I guess it can happen to anybody,” said Duke senior David McClure, who grabbed 12 rebounds.
Johnson forced Jon Scheyer to miss a go-ahead 3-point try from the right wing with 22 seconds remaining but stood still while waiting for the rebound to reach him.
Scheyer hustled to move in front of Johnson and secure the ball. The extra effort gave Duke another chance to break even or take the lead.
“I just wanted us to get another shot,” Scheyer said.
Duke got one, and Henderson delivered with a 17-footer over Johnson.
He made amends for his poor defensive sequence and endured a lengthy embrace from Teague as Wake students rushed the floor for the second time in three weeks.
“I just ran over there and hugged James for like two minutes,” Teague said. “I know that’s kind of weird or whatever, but I was just glad he hit the layup.”
It was a layup that pushed the record of top-ranked teams playing at Joel Coliseum to 0-3 this season.
Wake lost at home to Virginia Tech two days after ascending to No. 1. The Demon Deacons struggled to put that result in the rear-view mirror, but Ishmael Smith showed off his vision by snapping a between-the-legs pass to a trailing Aminu for a fastbreak dunk.
“On PlayStation you can press grudge match and play it again,” Smith said. “That’s what we wanted to do.”