updated 9:11 p.m. ET Jan. 14, 2007

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Desperate to escape the Atlantic Coast Conference basement, the Duke Blue Devils shot their way out.

Freshman Jon Scheyer scored a season-high 25 points and the No. 11 Blue Devils shot a season-best 68 percent from the field Sunday for their first conference victory, 85-63 over Miami.

Duke missed only 13 of 41 shots, and Scheyer was especially efficient. He went 5-for-8 from the field, including 4-for-6 on 3-pointers, and made all 11 free-throw attempts.

“Tonight was one of those nights where I hit a couple early and felt good, and I just kept shooting it,” Scheyer said.

The Blue Devils (14-3, 1-2) had been off to their worst start in the league since 1996.

“People think you always see Duke winning,” Scheyer said. “Just because we’re here doesn’t mean we’re automatically going to win. And that’s something we had to realize in those first two games.”

Miami (9-9, 2-2) lost for the fifth time in six games.

“Duke played tremendous, tremendous basketball,” Hurricanes coach Frank Haith said. “They’ve got great talent, and they played to that level tonight.”

Greg Paulus scored 15 points, and DeMarcus Nelson added 14 for the Blue Devils, who easily surpassed their season average of 72 points.

“We hate to lose,” Nelson said. “Losing is not acceptable for this program. And so when we lose we take losses hard.”

The Blue Devils shot 81 percent (17-for-21) in the first half, including 15-for-17 by their starters.

“Isn’t that ironic?” coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “This is probably the worst offensive team we’ve had in a while, and they do that in the first half.”

The Blue Devils made their final eight shots of the half to lead 49-40.

A dunk by Lance Thomas capped a 10-1 run that put the Blue Devils up 68-45 with 12 minutes left. Thomas, Nelson and Josh McRoberts shot a combined 14-for-15.

Jack McClinton, Miami’s leading scorer this season, was limited to a season-low five points in 22 minutes because of foul trouble. Sophomore Brian Asbury matched a career high with 19 points for the Hurricanes, and Anthony Harris had 14.

The Hurricanes, already without three regulars because of injuries, lost Harris late in the game to a pulled calf muscle.

“I haven’t been a part of this in my career before, where we have so many things happen to one team,” Haith said.

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Duke had an injury scare when Paulus briefly left the game in the second half because of a shoulder bruise, but he later returned.

With the Hurricanes’ front court thinned by injuries, Duke had a 32-16 advantage in rebounds. David McClure had 11.

The Blue Devils scored three fast-break baskets early, then began hitting from outside. Paulus’ third 3-pointer put them up 30-19, and an alley-oop dunk by McRoberts in transition made it 40-27.

“It was obvious our team played really well tonight from the get-go,” Krzyzewski said.

The Hurricanes scrambled to score five points in the final 25 seconds to cut the margin at halftime to nine, but got no closer.

“Anytime you can win on the road in conference play, it’s a good thing,” Paulus said. “Hopefully this will get us going.”

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