Maryland-Florida State: The Terrapins' Road Woes Continue in Tallahassee

When the final 1.1 seconds ticked off the game clock, the Florida State Seminoles and the Maryland Terrapins looked like they had just been in a steel cage match.

Many players grabbed their trunks, and kept their heads down.

The sweaty, flesh-colored faces said it all.

This was a wild one, with the loser’s season and NCAA tournament hopes in serious doubt.

Unfortunately for the Maryland Terrapins (12-5) the season is slowly slipping away from them.

They lost today 76-73, for their second loss in three games, to drop to 1-2 against Atlantic Conference opponents.

A five-day, two-game road trip has ended miserably for the Terps, but a few key players on the squad saw some positives to take with them, as they try to battle back from this troublesome tailspin.

“My teammates did a good job today; everybody from the bench, Sean [Mosley] and Landon [Milbourne] really stepped up,” said junior guard Greivis Vasquez.  “We just proved to everybody that we can be good, you know?”

I hear you Greivis, but in competitive sports, the results are what people remember.

Effort and heart are valuable tools that no one cares about, if the score does not say you win and the other team loses.

He is right that his supporting cast competed hard, on a bad shooting day for the whole team.

Maryland lives and dies by their patented pressure defense.

Against weaker opponents, that style of basketball worked.

However, since the Terps have opened up their ACC schedule, the ball has simply not been kind to them.

In the Terps' last game versus Miami, they blew a 17-point lead to lose 62-60.

Taller, muscle-bound post players have been giving them fits in the paint.

Rebounding was a problem in the Miami game, as the Terps could not close out the Hurricanes.

That continued their streak of four straight losses to Miami in their home arena.

Clearly, Florida is not the Sunshine State if you are wearing a red and white uniform.

Still, this game in Tallahassee went into overtime with the score tied at 66-66.

Maryland had opportunities to force Florida State into rushing their shots in the extra period, but they could not hit their free throws.

Leading scorer for the season Greivis Vasquez (8 points, 2-of-4 on free throw attempts) had an uncharacteristically bad shooting performance.

He averages 17.1 points per game, yet connected on 2-of-13 shots in this game.

Just a little under 30 seconds into OT he had a chance to put his team ahead by two points.

He missed the first shot, and made his second attempt which sounds like no big deal.

The score was 67-66 with Maryland on top by one point.

In a tight affair such as this, every point counts.

Later on in overtime, fellow guard Eric Hayes was also fouled, and he went to the line (Both teams were awarded two free throws automatically because they were in the penalty with nine total personal fouls apiece).

Same story, same result for Hayes.

The score was 71-69.

This time Florida State (15-3) grabbed the lead.

On Florida State’s previous possession guard Toney Douglas nailed a three-pointer to give the Seminoles the advantage 71-68.

Douglas (25 points on 8-of-18 shots) scored seven of Florida State’s 10 overtime points.

They were patient, and stayed in their offensive set up, and hit a great shot when they needed it.

True freshman guard Sean Mosely was shut out in the first half, came roaring back for UMD in the second half.

His 13 points on 5 of 7 shots gave Maryland hope that they would come away from Florida with a split decision.

But even he could not come away with two free throws made when Maryland got a third shot at possibly sending this barn burner into double overtime.

With the score at 73-70, Mosely grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed Florida State shot.

Maryland’s weakness in the Miami game turned out to be a positive stat for the Terps today.

They beat the Seminoles in second-chance points 23-11.

For the third consecutive time though, a missed free throw left Maryland on the edge of defeat.

Mosely made one of his free throw attempts, and Maryland managed one basket after that for the rest of the game.

A lot of credit has to go to Florida State for not packing it in, as they built an eleven-point lead, after ahead by a mere two points, 29-27 at halftime.

Good ball control and a strong performance from their back court, was enough to send Maryland away with another gut-wrenching road loss.

Forward Landon Milbourne’s comments after the game, fittingly described how hard both teams fought, because the win is more important than any individual stats.

“If we just fight, we can give ourselves a chance, and that’s all I was trying to do was give it a fight down there, said Milbourne.  (Leading scorer for Maryland with 17 points, 9 rebounds)  “It just didn’t work out for us in the end.”