Duke 73, Albany 61: Seth Curry scored 26 points and the second-seeded Blue Devils turned back a gritty effort by the Great Danes in their NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional opener at Philadelphia.

Mason Plumlee had 16 of his 23 points in the second half as Duke (28-5) built a 16-point lead before fending off a late comeback to advance to Sunday's third round against Creighton.

Jacob Iati scored 15 points to pace four players in double figures for Albany (24-11), which clawed back to within nine points with 2:42 to play on a 3-pointer by Mike Black (10 points).

But the America East tournament champion had no answers inside for Plumlee, who made all six of his shots in the second half and finally put the game away with a dunk and a pair of free throws to make it 72-59 with 1:27 left.

Duke appeared on the verge of a blowout, opening a 54-38 lead with 12:17 to play before the Great Danes cut the deficit in half with 4:40 remaining. Albany was unable to come up with enough stops on defense, though, particularly against Plumlee and Curry, who shot a combined 19-of-25.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Blue Devils improved to 5-0 in NCAA tourney play in Philadelphia. They also played in Philly en route to winning national championships in 1992 and 2001. ... Reserve G Peter Hooley scored 13 points for Albany, which connected on 9-of-15 3-pointers to stay in the game. ... Duke shot 58.7 percent overall to record the 1,999th win in program history and move within one victory of becoming the fourth school with 2,000.