WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — After a month of milkshakes and soup, Justin Gray could finally crack a smile.
The freshman guard returned to the Wake Forest lineup after being sidelined with a broken jaw — and helped pay back the team he suffered the injury against.
Gray, wearing a mask to help protect his face, scored 18 points as No. 15 Demon Deacons snapped a long losing streak against No. 8 Duke with a 94-80 victory in double overtime Thursday night.
"Coming into the game everybody was asking me if I was scared I would get injured again, but once I went through the war drill in practice I knew I could play," said Gray, whose 29 minutes was his third highest mark of the season.
The war drill is when five Wake Forest players try to take the ball away from five others within a boundary. The drill is run at full-speed contact.
"People get hurt in that every day," Gray said. "And that's how this game was. Every time you went into the lane people were smacking at you. It was a fight."
Gray made it through several of those rough practice drills this week after getting the wires out of his mouth. He then took a few shots against the Blue Devils, once getting leveled by a screen. But he bounced back up and ended up to play one of his best games of the season.
Gray broke his jaw at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Jan. 11 when he ran into Dahntay Jones' pick.
Gray saw his first action in a month 5:17 into the rematch, receiving a standing ovation from the sellout crowd at Joel Coliseum.
The face mask didn't seem to bother him as Gray sank his first two shots and finished the half with eight points.
"You could just see the emotion through the fans and the players," said Gray, who finished 6-for-11 from the field and 4-of-5 from the foul line before fouling out with 1:59 left in the first overtime. "This is one of the best games I've ever played in."
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said a lot of players showed guts in this one, but none more than Gray.
"If you want to point out one guy it should be Justin Gray," Krzyzewski said. "He looked like a very mature player out there, very poised. That helped them immensely."
Vytas Danelius scored 20 points and matched a career high with 14 rebounds to lead the way for Wake Forest, which snapped a 14-game skid against Duke dating to 1997.
The victory also kept the Demon Deacons (17-3, 7-2) in first place in the ACC, a half-game ahead of No. 16 Maryland.
Meanwhile, the Blue Devils (16-4, 6-4) lost their fourth straight ACC road game for the first time since 1996, shooting 31.5 percent.
"Once you got into overtime it was going to be a great win and a tough loss for somebody," Krzyzewski said. "It was a great win for Wake and a tough loss for us."
Duke has four ACC losses in a season for the first time since going 12-4 in 1997.
"This is the hardest our kids have played on the road," Krzyzewski said. "As far as effort goes, it was a winning effort."
Danelius scored all five of Wake Forest's points in the first overtime and four in the second extra session.
Eight players fouled out in a game that saw 64 fouls called. Trent Strickland, one of the freshest players left on the court, scored 10 points in the second OT, while Jamaal Levy added 15 points and 13 rebounds.
"We both have deep benches," Gray said. "Everybody has been ready to play since I went out, people have stepped up. Our bench has been great for us."
"He was an energy guy," Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said of Strickland, who had played a combined 19 minutes in the last three games. "He had two really good practices coming in and I felt he would play well."
Chris Duhon led Duke with a career-high 23 points, but the point guard missed his first six shots of the second overtime as Wake Forest outscored the Blue Devils 20-6.
Jones, Duke's leading scorer, was 0-for-12 from the field and finished with 10 points in 45 minutes.