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Maryland 86, Virginia Tech 71 by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com, 2/8/05
The Hokies were led by Carlos Dixon with 22 points on 9-15 shooting, including 4-5 from three-point range, and Zabian Dowdell added 17. But the story of the game was turnovers by the Hokies -- who had nine turnovers in each half and lost the turnover battle 18-13 -- and hot shooting by Maryland, normally not known for their shooting prowess. VT's inability to make a defensive stop meant they could never catch Maryland after falling behind. For Maryland, their two headliners, John Gilchrist and Nik Caner-Medley, played well, and the Terps got big contributions from their bench players. Gilchrist had 19 points and a career-high 10 assists, while Caner-Medley led the Terps with 21 points on 7-11 shooting. Backups Will Bowers and Mike Jones combined to go 9-9 for the Terps off the bench, and Maryland's bench outscored VT's bench 20-2. The Terps also buried VT from the free throw line, going 19-21 (90.4%) to VT's 7-12 (58.3%). VT was called for 18 fouls, with Marquis Cooke fouling out in just 13 minutes, and Maryland was whistled for 13 fouls. The Hokies played without backup guard Shawn Harris, who banged his knee against Jeff King in practice. Maryland played without D.J. Strawberry, who is out for the season, and Ekene Ibekwe (16 starts, 9 ppg), who missed the game with a couple of cracked ribs. The Hokies jumped out quickly to a 9-3 lead, then were outscored 37-21 for the rest of the first half to go into half time down 42-30. The Hokies turned the ball over 9 times before the break, leading to numerous transition opportunities for the Terps, who shot 57% (16-28) and outscored the Hokies 14-4 on fast break points. Dixon had 13 points and 7 rebounds for the Hokies in the first half, and he and Dowdell, who combined for 5-8 shooting from 3-point range, were the only thing that kept the Hokies in the game. Starters Coleman Collins and Deron Washington combined for just 2 points and 4 rebounds in the half, with the Hokies shooting just 11-30 (36.7%) in the half. Meanwhile, Maryland's Chris McCray, a 12.7 points-per-game scorer, poured in 11 of Maryland's first 16 points and had 13 for the half. Caner-Medley added 11. The Hokies made a nice 8-0 run to start the second half and cut the gap to 42-38. During the run, Washington had two dunks and Dixon tipped in a missed free throw by Collins. Maryland Coach Gary Williams called a timeout with 17:59 to go, and his Terps responded, hitting two three-pointers in the next 28 seconds to go back up 48-38. Gilchrist hit a deep three-pointer, and after a Hokie miss, McCray dropped in a long one to put the Terps back up by 10. The Hokies cut the lead to eight with 8:06 remaining on a layup by Jamon Gordon, who was fed by Jeff King. That made it 66-58 Terps, and the Hokies still had life, but Maryland snuffed that out in the next minute. The Terps hit two free throws by Travis Garrison and a layup by Caner-Medley, while the Hokies turned it over on a walk by Gordon and missed a wide-open 3 by Dowdell. When Caner-Medley was fouled in transition by Cooke and hit both free throws, it gave the Terps a 72-58 lead that they never relinquished. The Hokies and Terrapins traded baskets the rest of the way, and VT never cut the lead to less than 12. Maryland backup guard Mike Jones fought the Hokies off single-handedly down the stretch, hitting all six of his field goal attempts in the second half. Collins (12 second-half points) and Washington (6) woke up and played better for Tech, but Maryland's hot shooting (15-31 after the break) kept Tech at bay. The Hokies torched the nets after half time, shooting 18-29 (62.1%), but their inability to get defensive stops, plus 9 more second-half turnovers, meant they couldn't cut the deficit and threaten the Terps. For Virginia Tech, part of the script was familiar: the Terrapins had a deeper bench, substituted liberally, and got scoring from their non-starters. The Hokies didn't. But part of the script was not familiar, with Tech suffering a (-5) in the turnover margin, giving up eight steals while making just six of their own, and simply throwing the ball out of bounds on two occasions in the second half. The Hokies were tentative in the half-court offense in the first half, often making the extra pass instead of shooting, which led to turnovers. They executed much better in the second half, but it was too late, and the defense wasn't there. The Hokies (12-9, 5-5 ACC) fall into a four-way tie for fourth place with Maryland, Georgia Tech, and Miami, all of which are 14-7 (5-5). The Hokies have lost two in a row for the first time in a month (Dec. 30th to Miss. State and Jan. 8th to Florida State). VT will look to right the ship against Virginia (11-9, 2-7) in Charlottesville on Saturday at noon. The game will be televised by Raycom/Jefferson Pilot.
VIRGINIA TECH (71)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
D Washington 28 3-7 0-0 1-2 1 2 6
C Collins 33 5-9 4-7 1-5 3 0 14
C Dixon 36 9-15 0-0 4-9 1 3 22
Z Dowdell 38 6-13 3-3 1-5 5 1 17
J Gordon 36 5-10 0-2 2-6 7 4 10
W Witherspoon 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
M Cooke 12 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 5 2
A Calloway 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
J King 5 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 3 0
C Tucker 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 29-59 7-12 9-28 18 18 71
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Percentages: FG-.492, FT-.583. 3-Point Goals:
6-15, .400 (C Dixon 4-5, Z Dowdell 2-8, J
Gordon 0-1, M Cooke 0-1). Team Rebounds: 2.
Blocked Shots: 8 (J Gordon 3, D Washington 3,
C Dixon 2). Turnovers: 18 (J Gordon 5, C
Dixon 3, Z Dowdell 3, D Washington 2, J King
2, M Cooke 2, C Collins). Steals: 6 (D
Washington 3, C Collins 2, J Gordon).
MARYLAND (86)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
T Garrison 13 0-5 2-2 0-1 1 4 2
N Caner-Medley 36 7-11 6-7 2-7 1 1 21
J Gist 27 4-8 0-0 2-7 1 2 8
J Gilchrist 36 5-10 7-7 2-5 10 2 19
C McCray 35 6-15 2-2 1-3 6 1 16
S Ledbetter 11 0-0 1-2 0-1 0 1 1
M Grinnon 12 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
M Jones 11 6-6 1-1 0-1 0 0 13
W Bowers 19 3-3 0-0 0-4 0 2 6
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TOTALS 200 31-59 19-21 7-30 19 13 86
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Percentages: FG-.525, FT-.905. 3-Point Goals:
5-15, .333 (T Garrison 0-1, N Caner-Medley
1-3, J Gilchrist 2-4, C McCray 2-6, M Grinnon
0-1). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 6 (J
Gist 2, M Grinnon, N Caner-Medley, J
Gilchrist, W Bowers). Turnovers: 13 (N
Caner-Medley 3, J Gilchrist 3, C McCray 2, W
Bowers 2, J Gist 2, S Ledbetter). Steals: 8
(J Gilchrist 2, C McCray 2, M Grinnon, J
Gist, M Jones, N Caner-Medley).
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VIRGINIA TECH 30 41 - 71
MARYLAND 42 44 - 86
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Technical fouls: None. A: 17,950. Officials: Frank
Scagliotta, Joe Lindsay, Michael Stephens
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College
Park, MD -- Virginia Tech's two mainstays, defense and turnover margin, deserted them in the Comcast Center, as the
Hokies surrendered 52.5% shooting and turned it over 18 times. Maryland used a poor first half by the Hokies to stake
themselves to a 12-point half time lead, then made it stand up in the second half for an 86-71 win.