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DURHAM, N.C. – Kyle Singler led five Blue Devils in double figures as No. 1 Duke defeated the visiting Elon Phoenix, 98-72, in non-conference men’s basketball action from Cameron Indoor Stadium on Monday night. Elon rookie guard Jack Isenbarger led the Phoenix (4-7) with 21 points. The defending national champion Blue Devils remained unbeaten at 11-0 on the season.

"We are in the beginning stages of building what we hope will be very special at Elon," said Elon head coach Matt Matheny. "Our goal tonight was to be competitively tough for 40 minutes. And we understood that we were playing the No. 1 team in the country. We understood the venue that we were playing in and we understood all the adversity that we would face coming in. I’m happy and proud that our guys were competitively tough for 40 minutes. We want to be able to be on the national stage more, and we have to earn that right. So we’re pointed in the right direction, we just have to continue to climb."

Isenbarger netted 20+ for the second straight game and fifth time this season, knocking down 6-of-12 from the floor and converting on all eight free throw attempts. Senior Chris Long added 14 points to go along with five assists and four rebounds. Forward Roger Dugas contributed 11 points in the effort.

Duke’s Singler dumped in a game-high 24 points, pulled down seven rebounds and dished five assists. Nolan Smith also nailed 9-of-11 field goals for 22 points in 21 minutes of action. With the win, Blue Devil head coach Mike Krzyzewski notched his 879th career victory, tying legendary Dean Smith as the winningest coach in the ACC.

An Isenbarger triple put Elon up 8-7 in the early goings of the first half, before Duke capitalized on Phoenix turnovers and scored 14 unanswered points in under three minutes to go on top, 21-8. Out of a timeout, Elon’s Terrance Birdette drove to the basket and halted the run at the 11:55 mark and the Duke lead hovered around 12 for the next six minutes.

With the score 30-18 in favor of the home team, another quick scoring spurt by the Devils gave Duke the 44-24 advantage with 2:06 to play in the half. Duke would push its lead to as many as 21 before a Long three-pointer as the buzzer sounded made it an 18-points game, 49-31, at halftime.

Duke outgained Elon on the glass, 25-13, in the first half, including a 10-2 advantage on the offensive end. The Blue Devils scored 10 second-chance points and turned 12 Elon turnovers into 15 points.

The Phoenix scored the first five points of the second half to trim the Duke lead to 13, 49-36, and force a Devil timeout. The teams traded three-pointers before Singler scored nine of the next 13 Duke points to help the Blue Devils regain a 20-point advantage, 65-45, with 12:29 remaining.

Down 21 at the 10:10 mark, the Phoenix kept fighting and dumped in eight straight points in a minute of action to make it a 69-56 game. The lead still at 13 with 6:36 on the clock, an Andre Dawkins four-point play sparked the Devils and halted any chance of an Elon comeback.

For the game, Elon shot 43.1 percent from the floor while Duke was good on 49.2 percent of its attempts. The Phoenix hit 15-of-16 free throws for a season-best 93.8 percent from the line. Elon, who averages 10.1 three-pointers a game, connected on only seven against the Devils.

The Phoenix has a very quick turnaround as Elon goes on the road to take on Navy in the final game of 2010. Elon and Navy will battle on Wednesday, December 22 at 7 p.m.