MD-UNC Basketball: Terps Charge, Heels Collapse

MARYLAND 88, No. 3 NORTH CAROLINA 85 OT - A flat North Carolina team was sleepwalking through a whistle-ladened road game building a sixteen point lead in spite of a Herculean effort by the Terps’ Greivis Vasquez.

Then, out of nowhere, or, perhaps out of pure desperation, Maryland woke up.

The Terps shot 61 percent in the second half, including seven three pointers, to close the gap to seven with just over two minutes remaining.

That’s when a veteran Tar Heel team went from “flat” to “brain dead.” First, Ty Lawson, who had another brilliant game otherwise, took an ill-advised shot with 2:07 left in the game.

It was ill-advised because he drove the lane with 30 seconds remaining on the shot clock–30 seconds the Terps desperately needed.

From there, Maryland (17-9, 6-6 ACC) did everything right, including shooting 60 percent in overtime, and the Tar Heels could do nothing to stop them. During the second half, the Terps connected on 17 of their final 25 shots—68 percent.

Maryland desperately needed a win against a ranked team to beef up their NCAA tournament credentials. The Terps never gave up and both out-shot and out-played UNC in the final ten minutes of the game and the overtime.

Vasquez had a career-high 35 points and 11 rebounds and 10 assists – Maryland's first triple-double in 22 years.

It was just the third such accomplishment in the school’s history.

Vasquez joins Jack McClinton (35), Jeff Teague (34) and Toney Douglas (32), and Tyrese Rice (25) as guards the Heels couldn’t slow down.

Three of those games were losses and only Lawson’s last second heroics against Florida State kept it from being four losses.

North Carolina finished with five assists and five points from its bench. Maryland had 18 assists and got 41 points off its bench.

Vasquez scored Maryland's first 16 points, and in overtime hit a pivotal three-pointer with 1:15 left and made two free throws with 5.4 seconds remaining to put the Terrapins up by three.

Even North Carolina coach Roy Williams offered words of praise for his counterpart Gary Williams, saying, "The best team won today. The stronger team, the tougher team, the better-coached team. Sorry to be so blunt, but that's the way it was."

Ty Lawson led the Tar Heels (24-3, 10-3) with 24 points, Danny Green had 18 and Tyler Hansbrough had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

But North Carolina got only five points from its bench, compared to 41 by Maryland.

Maryland’s Cliff Tucker contributed a career-high 22 points to that total on 8-for-12 shooting.

North Carolina coughed up 15 turnovers—several in the closing minutes—while dishing out just five assists.

(AP Photos/Rob Carr)