COL BKB: Duke 73, Albany 61

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PHILADELPHIA, March 22 (UPI) -- Duke's Seth Curry scored 26 points Friday and the second-seeded Blue Devils cruised to a 73-61 NCAA Tournament win over the Albany Great Danes.

Duke established control early and enjoyed double-digit leads through the bulk of the game.

The Blue Devils (28-5) head to the Midwest Region third round Sunday against seventh-seeded Creighton, which beat No. 10-seeded Cincinnati 67-63 later Friday.

Albany, a No. 15 seed, completes its season 24-11.

Albany made a few charges at Duke, and each time the Great Danes made even a small run the upset-hoping crowd would get into the game. But Duke wasn't about to repeat last year's shocking loss to a No. 15 seed.

Curry hit a jumper that put the Blue Devils up by 11 just 8 minutes into the game and had back-to-back shots that quelled an Albany spurt that that closed the deficit to eight points in the game's final 4 minutes.

Curry's 26 points came on 10-of-14 shooting while Mason Plumlee hit 9-of-11 shots and ended up with 23 points. Duke shot 59 percent for the game.

Albany was led by Jacob Iati's 15-point effort.