[CQ-Contest] Dupes/NIL and Scoring?

[Eric Rosenberg]

Forgive my naive question, as I've not run into this situation before. 

During the CQ160 this past weekend, I was hit with what I thought were way
too many stations calling me some time after I thought I had worked them.  
This is a result of their calling/working someone *very* close to me that
I couldn't/didn't hear, while (unfortunately) being synchronized with me. 

My question:  Should I assume the log checkers will deduct points for the
initial NIL and then accept the good QSO?  

If the answer is to the above is YES, it becomes the justification to
just work 'em, even if you *think* they're dupes. 

Thanks in advance & 73, 

Eric W3DQ
Washington, DC