DURHAM – The silver linings only go so far at this time of the year.

Wake Forest was down 13 at halftime against No. 2 Duke, cut that to seven in the early minutes of the second half, and was still blown out 93-60 on Monday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

“We got manhandled tonight by a team that played really well,” coach Steve Forbes said. “Their points really came off of turnovers, second-chance points and fast breaks.”

Wake Forest (20-10, 12-7 ACC) was overmatched and overwhelmed in its final scheduled chance to notch a Quad-1 win. The Deacons could see Duke again next week in the ACC tournament, or Louisville or Clemson, for another chance at a résumé-boosting win — but that’s all to be determined with seeding and results through Saturday.

For now, the Deacons are left to pick up the pieces of a 33-point demolition at the hands of a team it lost to by seven earlier this season.

“Credit to Duke, they gave us a really good whipping,” Forbes said.

The numbers off of this loss, if you need them:

- Wake Forest committed 15 turnovers, leading to 23 points by Duke; Duke committed 10, and those led to four of Wake’s points.

- Duke outscored Wake Forest 38-20 in the paint.

- Wake’s 12 offensive rebounds were converted into seven points; Duke’s 18 offensive rebounds led to 22 points.

- Duke outscored Wake Forest 20-6 in fast-break points.

Losing in the margins like that is going to get you beat; losing in the margins like that against one of the national championship frontrunners is going to result in a blowout.

“I mean, how many times did we get a stop and then we just couldn’t grab the basketball?” Forbes said. “That’s demoralizing. … When the game was on the line, we cut it under 10, we couldn’t get loose balls or rebounds.

“And so, they just got more and more and more possessions.”

Duke led 40-27 after a muddy and sloppy start to the first half — it was 2-2 after five minutes.

Efton Reid III scored seven points the last 2-plus minutes of the first half, part of his team-best 10 at halftime. He and point guard Ty-Laur Johnson finished with 14 points apiece; Hunter Sallis had nine points on 3-for-10 shooting.

Duke’s offense got hot in a hurry, with 3-pointers by Sion James, Cooper Flagg and Isaiah Evans coming in a span of 100 seconds — Evans had a transition layup in that spurt, too. That took the score from a 4-2 deficit to a 13-8 lead for Duke, and the Blue Devils never trailed again.

Flagg finished with 28 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, three blocks and two steals. He had one turnover; he had seven when these teams played at Wake Forest.

TIP-INS: Both games between Wake Forest and Duke this season saw the Blue Devils leading by 13. The game in Winston-Salem ended with a seven-point margin. … Cameron Hildreth was the only one of the eight players to take the court for the Deacons who didn’t score. He missed all seven shots, had three rebounds, two assists and three turnovers. … The Deacons made six 3-pointers but two of them were in the last 2½ minutes, when the outcome was long decided. … Wake Forest did not make players available to the media after the game.