Associated Press

Duke's Gerald Henderson (15) drives into Virginia's Tech's A.D. Vassallo during Duke's 69-44 win Sunday night.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Only one ACC heavyweight was upset on Tobacco Road on Sunday night.

While top-ranked North Carolina fell to Boston College over in Chapel Hill, No. 5 Duke had no such trouble in its conference opener.

The Blue Devils scored the first 11 points of the game en route to a 69-44 rout of Virginia Tech at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The 44 points were the fewest for Tech since a 49-41 loss to Massachusetts in 1999-2000.

Tech (9-5, 0-1) scored just 13 second-half points.

"We were just a little tougher throughout the whole game," said Kyle Singler, who had 19 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for Duke. "We played all 40 minutes, and I think that was the key. We wore them down a little bit. They got tired."

Two years ago, the Hokies quieted the stunned "Cameron Crazies" with an overtime win.

This time, the Duke students were in a much happier mood, and chanted "Drive home safely -- with a license!" in the final minute.

It was one of two references the students made during the game to the shoplifting and driving without a license charges that A.D. Vassallo faces.

Vassallo entered the game averaging 19 points but was held to seven points. He was 3-of-9 from the field.

Jeff Allen was 1-of-4 from the field for nine points. Malcolm Delaney (12 points) was the only Hokie to score in double figures.

The Hokies shot just 36.7 percent from the field. They took only 18 shots in the second half.

"Offensively, we were inept at best," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. "That's probably giving it a compliment."

The Hokies scored the first four points of the second half to cut the deficit to 39-35. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called a timeout, and Tech assistant coach James Johnson yelled at the Cameron Crazies.

But Duke (12-1, 1-0) answered with two straight baskets to start a 25-7 run, and extended the lead to 64-42 with 6:22 left. Tech committed five of its 18 turnovers during that span.

"Out of the timeout, they just kicked our tails on the backboards and got extra possessions, and it snowballed," said Greenberg, whose team was outrebounded 38-28. "The game was over after his timeout. Their guys responded and our guys didn't.

"They were just much tougher than us coming out of that timeout."

Delaney said that Tech stopped attacking Duke offensively after its 4-0 run to start the second half.

"We stopped being aggressive," he said.

Allen had a different perspective of the second half.

"They came out after the timeout and they played a little bit harder," Allen said. "It just feels like we gave up.

"We should've scored way more points than that" in the half.

Delaney had said Friday that he hoped it wouldn't take "a Carolina game from last year to show us that we need to play hard." He was referring to UNC's 92-53 rout of Tech last season.

Delaney brought up UNC again after Sunday's game.

"This could be like one of the Carolina games last year, where it takes this to help us respond," he said.

Greenberg, who sat Vassallo and Delaney for the final 6:22 of the game, said his team "stunk it up" in the second half. But he wasn't fretting about the rest of the ACC season.

"If you overreact to one league game on the road in this league, you're a village idiot," he said.

Duke jumped to an 11-0 lead with 16:27 left in the first half. The Hokies missed their first nine shots from the field, finally making a basket to cut the lead to 14-4 with 13:30 to go in the half.

The "cheer sheet" given out to the Duke students detailed Vassallo's Dec. 18 arrest.

"He and a former teammate stole a 12-pack of Dr Pepper," the sheet read. "In typical Hokie fashion, though, he was not suspended."

When Vassallo went to the bench with his second foul with 5:18 to go in the first half, the Cameron Crazies chanted, "Dr Pepper."

Virginia Tech MP FG FT R A F PT

Allen 27 1-4 7-9 5 0 3 9

Davila 7 0-1 0-0 2 0 0 0

Vassallo 29 3-9 0-0 3 2 2 7

Hudson 25 0-4 0-0 1 1 0 0

Delaney 33 6-12 0-0 4 0 2 12

Bell 11 0-0 0-1 1 0 3 0

Thorns 21 1-5 0-0 0 3 2 2

Vinson 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Witcher 7 0-0 0-0 2 0 0 0

Thompson 19 3-8 0-0 2 1 3 6

Diakite 20 4-6 0-2 5 0 3 8

Totals 200 18-49 7-12 28 7 18 44

Duke MP FG FT R A F PT

Singler 37 7-11 3-3 8 7 2 19

Henderson 32 5-10 4-5 8 4 3 15

Zoubek 15 3-6 0-0 4 0 3 6

Smith 28 4-12 4-4 2 3 2 13

Scheyer 34 2-7 6-6 4 1 2 11

Paulus 16 1-4 0-0 1 1 1 3

Pocius 3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0

McClure 17 0-1 0-0 5 0 0 0

Williams 3 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0

Plumlee 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Thomas 12 0-2 2-2 1 0 3 2

Totals 200 22-54 19-20 38 16 17 69

Rebounds include team rebounds.

Score by periods:

Virginia Tech 31 13 -- 44

Duke 39 30 -- 69

3-point goals: Virginia Tech 1-9 (Vassallo 1-4, Thorns 0-2, Delaney 0-3), Duke 6-16 (Singler 2-2, Henderson 1-2, Scheyer 1-3, Smith 1-4, Paulus 1-4, Pocius 0-1).

Turnovers: Virginia Tech 18 (Allen 6), Duke 17 (Singler 6).

Blocked shots: Virginia Tech 6 (Diakite 3), Duke 3 (Singler, Henderson, Zoubek).

Steals: Virginia Tech 7 (Delaney 3), Duke 9 (Zoubek 3).

Officials: Kersey, Kitts, Nestor.

Attendance: 9,314.