Maryland-Virginia Tech: Landon Milbourne Leads by Example, Scores 23

As I arrived in College Park Saturday night and entered the Comcast Center, you could see and feel the excitement in the air. Gary Williams tee-shirts and "In Gary We Trust" buttons were being passed out in support of the coach.

The excitement continued when the game started. Adrian Bowie and Landon Milbourne made back-to-back layups to start the game, and the University of Maryland never trailed in their 83-73 victory over visiting Virginia Tech.

Milbourne and Greivis Vasquez finished with 23 and 17 points, respectively, to lead the Terps. Milbourne had scored 14 of his points by the end of the first half, as the Terps took a 34-29 lead heading into the locker room.

Milbourne may have had the best game of his career, if not the most important. He played a near-perfect game, going 8-11 from the field, 1-for-1 at the three-point line, 6-for-6 at the free throw line, led Maryland in rebounds with six, had one steal, one assist, only had two turnovers, managed to stay on the court at the end of the game after committing just one personal foul, all while playing 38 minutes.

His thunder dunk near the end of the game had the Comcast Center fans rocking and cheering so loud you could hardly hear yourself talk. The dunk can only be matched with the one against Florida State last year. 

Milbourne led all scorers and was named player of the game.

Vasquez rallied the team, hitting timely three-pointers before fouling out of just his third game of the season. Vasquez went 7-13, 3-for-5 from the three-point line, and added five rebounds. 

Although Milbourne and Vasquez lead the Terps in scoring, this was a great team effort.  Eric Hayes scored 12 and went 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Dave Neal added 10 and was 3-for-4 from the free throw line. Sean Mosley added nine and was 5-for-6 from the free throw line, while Bowie finished with eight points and was 4-for-4 from the charity strip. 

Maryland went 24-26 from the line and at one time sank 21 straight. The Terps also tied Tech in rebounds with 31.

Virginia Tech got 20 points from A.D. Vassallo and 16 from Malcolm Delaney, respectively.

The win evens Maryland's record in the ACC at 5-for-5 and 16-8 overall. Maryland has now won their last three-out-of-four games. The Hokies record is now 16-8 and 6-4 in the ACC.