NEW YORK – Despite the best efforts of the three officials in the finals of the 2K Empire Classic Friday night between Duke and Georgetown, there actually was 40 minutes of basketball played.

And while those minutes weren’t always pretty, they were intense and exciting, and for the second time at Madison Square Garden this year, it was a California kid who made the Blue Devils winners.

Cassius Stanley may be from California, but it’s clear early in his Duke career that he likes the big stage here in New York City. The high-flying freshman guard came alive after halftime, scoring 20 of his career-high 21 after the break as Duke won a very physical game marred by bad officiating on both sides, 81-73.

Despite going 4:34 without a point down the stretch, allowing the Hoyas to climb from down 77-63 to down only four, the Blue Devils hung on to win their third Empire Classic.

With neither team able to go more than a few possessions without fouling, and Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing looking as mad as he ever has at his professional home of Madison Square Garden,

Stanley’s scoring punch helped Duke (6-0) stay undefeated.

“I knew I had two fouls in the first half and so they didn’t want me to get a third and so had to be careful,” Stanley said. “But I came out in the second half trying to be aggressive, knowing I had three more to use. So I tried to be aggressive and go hard.”

Friday night’s game was by far the most physical Duke has played this season, and with the referees calling fouls anytime a defender breathed on an offensive player (there were 51 fouls called Friday), it was hard for anyone to get in a scoring flow.

But while Vernon Carey Jr. dominated the first half for Duke, pumping in 16, it was Stanley who crushed the second half.

He made 6-of-9 shots from the floor after the break, including all three of his 3-point attempts, to go along with 6-of-7 from the charity stripe.

Stanley also snagged seven rebounds, and his athleticism, combined with that of Wendell Moore Jr. (17 points Friday) helped Duke win.

“He’s playing with more and more confidence and always wanting to make a play,” Tre Jones said. “He’s able to find a way to impact the game every night.

“From the first half to the second half, you could just see (Cassius’) confidence go up,” said Vernon Carey Jr., who added 20 points and 10 rebounds. Stanley raved about playing in the Garden, where, incredibly, half of his college games have taken place.

“We don’t have anything like this in L.A,” he said with a laugh. “I guess we have the Staples Center, but it doesn’t have the same history.”

THE BIG HURT: Freshman forward Matthew Hurt is still looking for a breakout game, six games into his Duke career. The highly touted forward from Minnesota endured another rough night Friday, shooting 0-4 from the field and grabbing one rebound.

Hurt only played five minutes Friday night, all in the first half, as he was benched following a drive to the basket that was rejected. (Mike Krzyzewski said after the game just that “Jack White was playing better” as to why Hurt never got in the game in the second half.”

Hurt, shooting 45 percent from the floor coming into Friday, is averaging 10.4 points and 3.8 rebounds so far. Respectable numbers for a freshman, but not what has been expected.

“We all believe in Matthew and I promise you he’s going to be fine,” Stanley said. “We talk to him every day and I know there’s going to be a day, I promise you, he’s going to go off. I love that kid, I love him to death, and seeing him struggle really hurts me. It’s a roller-coaster but he’s going to be fine.”

ANOTHER SLOW START ON OFFENSE: It’s not quite a trend, but it’s concerning nonetheless: For the second straight night and fourth time this season, the Blue Devils’ offense took a very long time to get started Friday.

Duke began the game shooting only 5-for-22 from the field, and fell behind the Hoyas by as many as 12 points.

“It’s something we have to figure out,” Jones said. “Part of it is getting used to who we’re playing against, which isn’t good. We should come out stronger than that, but how physical it was, this was a different type of team.

“It’s been a different reason each game (that we’ve started slow),” Jones added. “But we have to figure it out.”

The Blue Devils had only 12 points, 11 minutes into the game, and looked totally lost offensively for much of the first half, driving into traffic and putting up forced shots. Duke was unable to get open looks against a tight Georgetown defense, but the Blue Devils were also not beating anybody off the dribble.

Krzyzewski said he wasn’t worried about the slow starts, believing there have been too few games for it to be a trend, and citing Duke’s strange early-season schedule (three Friday games, two games in less than 24 hours this week) as a cause.

“The first 10 minutes tonight we were very young; we were knocked back tonight,” Krzyzewski said. “It’s human nature.”

Of course, the Blue Devils did go on an 11-3 run to end the half, tying the game at 33, and the offense clicked into gear once Carey got going.

But these slow starts, if not corrected, are bound to hurt Duke against top teams, like Michigan State coming up on Dec. 3, and then of course in ACC play.

BAKER RISES TO THE OCCASION: Sophomore Joey Baker hasn’t gotten much playing time so far in 2019-20, but he made the most of his chance on Friday night.

With Hurt and Alex O’Connell ineffective in the first half, the sharpshooting Baker came in and hit both of his shot attempts, including a 3-pointer from the left corner that brought the Blue Devils within 31-29 with 3:08 left in the half.

“I just try to stay ready, put the work in so I’ll be ready,” Baker said. “I was happy tonight I was able to hit a few shots.”

Baker, averaging 15 minutes per game entering Friday, played nine minutes Friday but made them count.

3-POINT SHOOTING GETS GOING: The Blue Devils enjoyed a terrific 3-point shooting night Friday, especially in the second half.

Entering the game the Blue Devils had made only 32 percent from beyond the arc, but Friday against the Hoyas Duke sank 6-of-13, for 46 percent.

A HISTORIC WIN FOR COACH K: Friday night’s win was the 218 th for Coach K when Duke was ranked No.1, breaking a tie with the legendary John Wooden.

Asked about it Friday night after the game, Krzyzewski said he had no idea about the record but was honored.

“I would think most games he (coached) he was No.1,” Krzyzewski said. “Any time you’re mentioned along anything he did is a pretty big compliment.”