Trailing Charlotte (5-7) at halftime by three points, and tied with the 49ers at 49-49 with 14:49 remaining in the game, the Terps looked to be on the verge of another one of those crippling pre-ACC non-conference losses, the kind that derailed their NCAA Tournament chances last season.
But then came the critical 16-0 Terp run, fueled mostly by guard Greivis Vasquez (27 points, 4 rebounds). Vasquez didn’t have the most efficient game (8-19 shooting from the field) but nonetheless hit four 3-pointers and dazzled the crowd with a behind the back move and fast break layup to give the Terps (11-2) a 64-49 lead with just under 12 minutes remaining.
Also key in the Terps second half resurgence- Landon Milbourne, Adrian Bowie and Eric Hayes, who came back from an underwhelming first half performance to keep the Terps on track for their ACC-opener against Georgia Tech next weekend.
“We’re pretty confident, we know what we’re capable of on offense and defense,” said Milbourne, who scored 13 points and went 5-5 from the field in the second half. “It was just a matter of time for us to turn it on. We’ve got to learn how to come out and take it to guys and shut down guys from the start. And we didn’t do that for the first five, six minutes of the game and we had to come back from that.”
Freshman Sean Mosley had his best game, providing an important boost of energy off the bench and even knocking down two 3-pointers on the way to 11 points and five rebounds.
“It felt great today,” Mosley said. “It took a lot of stress off me. I was going home at night some times and thinking, why is my shot not falling? I found my shot today, and today I just went out and played my game.”
Also of note, coach Gary Williams made sure to make it known he thinks the Terps should be ranked.
“At 11-2 hopefully we get some national recognition,” Williams said. “If you look at the polls I think we have as good wins as a lot of those teams in the lower part of the poll. Hopefully, somebody will take notice of that.”
Classic Gary.
Also today, the Terp women knocked off Richmond 83-65 in Richmond, pushing their record to 12-2 with their own conference opener against Wake Forest coming up next week.
akrautdbk@gmail.com