Terps Survive Cavaliers for 400th ACC Win

Maryland wins 84-78

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Eager to end a two-game skid and avoid a frantic finish, Maryland got it half right.

Adrian Bowie and Landon Milbourne each scored 17, and the Terrapins frittered away most of a 17-point lead before escaping with an 84-78 victory over Virginia on Tuesday night.

Eric Hayes had 10 points and 11 assists, his first career double-double, and Greivis Vasquez scored 16 for the Terrapins (13-5, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference).

Maryland never trailed, but couldn't pull away in the 400th ACC victory in school history. After going up by 17 in the first half, the Terrapins let the margin slip to two points but made eight straight free throws in the final 64 seconds to seal the win.

"We held on, but we were due to get one of these -- and we did," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "We could very easily have won three in a row in the conference right now."

The Terrapins were coming off two close road losses, blowing a 17-point lead in a 62-60 defeat at Miami before falling 76-73 in overtime against Florida State.

"It was tough to come back tonight. I was really pleased with the team with what they did at Florida State after Miami and then coming back and getting ready to play today without much rest," Williams said.

Jamil Tucker scored a career-high 21 and Mike Scott had 16 points, 10 rebounds and went 10-for-10 at the line for Virginia (7-8, 1-3). Calvin Baker also scored 16, on 7-for-10 shooting.

"Obviously, it's not going to be a situation that's productive to winning when you dig a hole as big as we did," Cavaliers coach Dave Leitao said.

Leitao was pleased with the comeback, but conceded that playing so hard just to get close took too much out of his team.

"We've got to figure out a way to get that energy that we had to show up earlier in games for us," he said. "If you look at sports in general, when you get down, especially on the road, and work you way back, you expend so much energy that sometimes you don't have the physical or mental capability to finish the deal."

Virginia's Sylven Landesburg had 11 rebounds, but scored only seven points on 2-for-10 shooting. He came in averaging 17.3 points per game.

The Terrapins made only one basket in the opening 7 minutes of the second half and let the Cavaliers close to 52-47 with 12 minutes remaining.

It was 65-63 before David Neal hit a 3-pointer for Maryland with 4:54 left. Milbourne scored 10 points in the final 4:11, and the Terrapins hit their last 10 free throws.

"I think we have a capability of winning a whole lot of games this year, but we have to get rid of that little slump that we've been having," Milbourne said. "It's a good thing tonight that we picked it up at the end."

Hayes reached a career-high in assists and did not commit a turnover. Against Florida State, he was 3-for-11 from the floor with five turnovers.

"I tried to be aggressive with the ball because I was pretty upset with myself for the last games," he said. "I tried to get as many assists as I could and the least amount of turnovers that I possibly could. I did a great job tonight."

Bowie scored 13 points in the first half, and Maryland forced 13 turnovers in going up 45-30 at the break.

Maryland led 28-25 before Hayes hit a pair of 3-pointers in a 17-3 run that upped the margin to 17. Bowie and Vasquez each had two baskets in the surge, which ended with the Terrapins scoring 12 successive points.

"We got lackadaisical at the end of the first half and we didn't disrupt their offense enough," Tucker said. "When you play lazy like that, you can really dig yourself a hole."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us