Duke freshman Cassius Stanley scored 21 points and freshman center Vernon Carey Jr. had another big night with 20 points and the top-ranked Blue Devils used a strong second-half stretch to hold off Georgetown 81-73 on Friday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.

It was the championship game of the 2K Empire Classic Benefiting Wounded Warriors Project.

The victory gave Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke his 218th victory while coaching a No. 1-ranked team. That moved him one ahead of legendary UCLA coach John Wooden on that particular list.

This is Duke's first week atop the rankings this season. Three of the team's six victories have come at Madison Square Garden.

Wendell Moore Jr.'s 17 points and Tre Jones' 13 points also gave a boost to Duke (6-0). Carey also had 10 rebounds.

Georgetown center Omer Yurtseven racked up 21 points and James Akinjo had 19 points, six assists and four steals.

Duke was up 77-63 with five minutes to play, then went more than four minutes without scoring. The Hoyas (4-2) were within 77-71 on Yurtseven's basket at the 1:25 mark.

Yurtseven blocked a shot at the other end, but the Blue Devils retained possession. After Carey's missed free throws, Akinjo made two foul shots with 42 seconds to go, slicing Duke's lead to four.

Jones drained two free throws to break the drought and Akinjo missed on a 3-point attempt with 21 seconds to go to seal the outcome.

Duke finished with 19 offensive rebounds and 43 overall, while the Hoyas had 29 total rebounds.

The Hoyas shot 57.1 percent from the field in the first half, though they went through a six-minute stretch without a basket from the floor.

Duke trailed for most of the first half, but a 7-0 run gave it the lead before settling for a 33-33 halftime draw. Then Duke racked up six points in the first 56 seconds of the second half.

The Blue Devils had their first double-digit lead at 51-40 less than four minutes after halftime.

Carey, who scored 31 points a night earlier against California, posted 16 first-half points.

Yurtseven, who faced Duke when he played for North Carolina State before transferring, picked up two quick fouls. Later, he had seven points early in the second half, but was called for his third and fourth fouls in the process.

The Hoyas led 15-11 while Duke shot 4-for-16 from the field. The Blue Devils had a stretch of more than five minutes without a field goal.

--Field Level Media