By David Droschak
The Associated Press

DURHAM, N.C. - Chris Duhon lost his voice a few days ago in practice, so he couldn't comment on his play. Those who saw Duhon lead top-ranked Duke over No. 17 Wake Forest 74-55 Sunday night in the battle of college basketball's last two unbeatens needed no verbal explanation.

The junior point guard had a five-minute stretch near the end of the first half that helped Duke improve to 11-0 and 2-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Duhon, on a 2-for-22 shooting slump beyond the arc, hit three 3-pointers in a 2:50 span to get Duke's struggling offense jump started. After displaying his range, Duhon then fed Casey Sanders and Shavlik Randolph for dunks as the Blue Devils used a closing 10-0 run for a 37-27 lead at the break.

"Duhon was spectacular again," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "He just ran the team and he had that look of a confident leader out there all night."

In other Top 25 games Sunday, No. 5 Notre Dame beat Seton Hall 74-64, and No. 6 Pittsburgh held off Rutgers 70-63.

After Duhon's spurt, Wake Forest never got closer than eight the rest of the way, shooting a season-low 34.4 percent and turning it over 18 times.

Dahntay Jones scored 15 of his 16 points in the opening 81/2 minutes of the second half to break the game open, and Randolph had 15 points and seven rebounds in 24 minutes.

Duhon had scored just 34 points in his last five games, but made four 3-pointers for 14 points. He also had nine assists in what arguably was his best game this season.

"He's been concentrating so much on just leading us and playing D and making sure everybody else is OK that his shooting isn't where it will be," Krzyzewski said. "That's just a period of adjustment, but in practice on Friday he got a lot of shots and started hitting. Everybody on the team said, 'Keep going, keep doing it.'

"It's tough to single out one guy when you have a great defensive effort, but our leader was a strong, strong leader and a terrific player."

Duke won its 20th straight in Cameron Indoor Stadium and 14th in a row against the Demon Deacons (10-1, 0-1). Wake Forest's last win here came in January 1997 with Tim Duncan as its center.

"This whole thing we are trying to do is going to be a work in progress," Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said. "It's not going to happen overnight. We wish it would, but we saw where we have to get to. Sometimes it's good to have it right in front of your face."

Jones started 0-for-6 from the field, but the senior didn't stop firing.

He sank an 18-footer 30 seconds into the second period, and after missing his next two shots, went on a tear that gave the Blue Devils a 24-point lead with 11:37 left.

Jones started his 5-for-6 stretch with a spinning move in the lane and ended it five minutes later with a 3-pointer as he scored 13 of Duke's 18 points during one stretch.

"I just remember coming down the court and Dahntay just hitting, it seemed like 13 threes in a row," Randolph said. "That's what kind of separated the game right there."

Wake Forest star Josh Howard struggled on offense, going 5-for-13 to finish with 13 points and 14 rebounds.

"I've had plenty of losses, but this is the first loss of my senior year," Howard said. "It feels bad."

Prosser said his club must now regroup with No. 21 Maryland coming to Winston-Salem on Wednesday night.

"One thing I learned last year in this league is that every game is a power game," he said. "Two games in a row we have to play the last two national champions."