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WINSTON-SALEM -- The highly anticipated matchup between top-10 ACC heavyweights Duke and Wake Forest lived up to its billing, but the knockout punch was easier than anyone could have imagined.

James Johnson scored the winning layup on an inbounds pass with 0.8 seconds remaining to lift No. 6 Wake Forest to a 70-68 win over top-ranked Duke Wednesday night at Lawrence Joel Coliseum.

Johnson said the respect Jeff Teague demands created the space for the play to develop.

"We knew everybody was going to key on Jeff Teague -- he's the man," Johnson said. "He's the one who scores and puts baskets up for us so he said watch out for the slip (screen). I slipped it and L.D. (Williams) made a great pass; it was perfect and I finished the play."

Everyone in the building counted on the ball going to Teague, who averages a league-leading 27.5 points per game in ACC games.

Deacon coach Dino Gaudio drew the play up for Johnson because he counted on the bulls-eye being on Teague's back.

"That's the way we drew it up," Gaudio said. "We thought that they may switch out, so that's why we had Johnson as the last screener."

Johnson cut to the lane after the screen and finished in traffic for the winning score.

Duke's baseball pass at the buzzer was broken up to ensure Wake (17-1, 4-1 ACC) of its third victory over a top-10 team this season, adding an exciting chapter to the ACC's oldest rivalry, which began in 1906.

"The kids did a great job in that situation," Gaudio said. "That's not something we have in our playbook &ellipses; we were drawing in the sand a little bit."

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said the defeat stung a little deeper because of the way the final possession unfolded.

"Obviously we were horrible in defending the last play," he said, "but the effort to come back was outstanding.

"We wanted the ball to go to the outside," Krzyzewski continued. "You switch (defenders) to take the inside away &ellipses; it didn't work. We didn't do it."

David Weaver's bucket with 8:50 to play put Wake up 61-48. The 13-point advantage was its biggest of the game and Krzyzewski feared the proverbial lid was about to be blown off.

But Duke (18-2, 5-1 ACC) went on a 20-9 run the rest of the way and Gerald Henderson's fadeaway jumper over Johnson with 11 seconds remaining tied it at 68.

Henderson, who was Johnson's original defender out of the timeout on the final play, said the Blue Devils simply failed to execute.

"Just miscommunication," Henderson said of the play. "We wanted to switch everything. Teague came around and I wanted to switch out on him and it just didn't unfold like we wanted it to."

Duke's Kyle Singler led all scorers with 22 points.

Henderson added 20 and guard Jon Scheyer finished with 13. Wake freshman Al-Farouq Aminu led his team with 15 points and added 10 rebounds.

Johnson (13 points, 11 rebounds) and Teague (11) were also in double figures. The Deacons held Duke to a season-low 33.3-percent shooting performance (22-of-66) overall and the Blue Devils' 18.2-percent 3-point-shooting (4-of-22) was their second-worst showing of the year.

Wake also faired considerably better in the open court (11-2 advantage in fast-break points) and outscored Duke 42-24 in the paint.

However, the Blue Devils hit 20 of 24 free throws, including 16-of-20 in the second half, to stay in contention.

Wake hasn't lost to an in-state rival at the Joel since falling to North Carolina Jan. 24, 2007.

And although Duke has won five of the last seven in the series overall, Wake has defended home court well, taking five of the last six in Winston-Salem.

"I'm not saying that at all," Ish Smith said when asked if the Deacs had Duke's number. "We really play well here at the Joel, but they're obviously a great team and we have to play them at Cameron, so we're not about to get too cocky."

As good as Wake was defensively, its offensive performance was also solid, as it shot 40.3-percent (25-for-62) for the game.

Gaudio stressed that the game wasn't a make-or-break for either team, but it was a confidence booster in the rough waters of the ACC."It's just a big win," Gaudio said. "Every game in this league is like Game 7."

DUKE (18-2)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Henderson 30 9-17 2-4 3-8 1 4 20

Zoubek 13 0-3 0-0 2-2 0 0 0

Smith 21 1-5 4-6 1-4 0 2 6

Singler 37 7-19 6-6 4-12 1 2 22

Scheyer 34 2-10 8-8 2-3 2 4 13

Paulus 17 2-6 0-0 0-2 2 2 5

McClure 25 0-2 0-0 2-12 1 1 0

Williams 3 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Plumlee 7 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2

Thomas 13 0-1 0-0 0-2 1 4 0

Totals 200 22-66 20-24 15-47 8 21 68

Percentages: FG .333, FT .833. 3-Point Goals: 4-22, .182 (Singler 2-5, Paulus 1-5, Scheyer 1-7, Williams 0-1, Henderson 0-2, Smith 0-2). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 5 (Henderson, Thomas, Smith, Singler, Zoubek). Turnovers: 15 (Henderson 7, Singler 4, Smith 2, Scheyer, Zoubek). Steals: 8 (Henderson 3, Paulus 2, Plumlee, Scheyer, McClure). Technical Fouls: None.

WAKE FOREST (17-1)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Aminu 33 5-14 5-6 3-10 2 4 15

Johnson 36 4-8 5-7 0-11 3 2 13

McFarland 18 4-6 1-5 3-7 0 4 9

Teague 34 4-14 1-2 0-3 2 3 11

Williams 21 2-6 0-0 1-2 1 3 4

Clark 4 0-1 2-2 0-1 0 0 2

Hale 10 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Smith 25 3-8 1-1 0-2 4 0 7

Weaver 19 3-5 3-4 2-3 0 1 9

Totals 200 25-62 18-27 11-43 12 18 70

Percentages: FG .403, FT .667. 3-Point Goals: 2-10, .200 (Teague 2-3, Smith 0-1, Clark 0-1, Johnson 0-1, Williams 0-2, Aminu 0-2). Team Rebounds: 4. Blocked Shots: 9 (Johnson 4, Aminu 2, McFarland 2, Weaver). Turnovers: 11 (Aminu 4, McFarland 2, Smith 2, Williams, Teague, Hale). Steals: 10 (Teague 3, McFarland 2, Aminu, Johnson, Smith, Weaver, Clark). Technical Fouls: None.

Duke 28 40 -- 68

Wake Forest 33 37 -- 70

A--14,665. Officials--Mike Wood, Ray Natili, Tim Nestor.