Somehow, Maryland managed to turn dominant big man Lonny Baxter into a dormant non-factor in the first 37 minutes of Saturday’s semifinal game against the Wolfpack. Thus the Terrapins found themselves losing 58-55 at the 2:57 mark, in danger of a sixth straight semifinal loss in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.

A great awakening made sure that didn’t happen, though. Just two minutes earlier, Baxter skied for a rebound, got undercut by State’s Kenny Inge and continued his journey all the way down to the Charlotte Coliseum court — on his back. He stayed down for a minute, headed for the bench to check on a sore tailbone and returned with renewed determination.

“I was shaken up a little bit after the fall but I was able to regain myself when I came back in the game,”Baxter said. “I just thought, ‘Win.’”

The 6-foot-8, 250-pound sophomore called for the ball in the post, got it and knocked down a turnaround jumper. State led 58-57. Teammate Juan Dixon followed with a layup to put Maryland ahead for good, but Baxter made sure the lead didn’t change hands after that.

“Lonny Baxter did a great job in the second half,”Wolfpack forward Damien Wilkins said. “He kept them in the game, kept making big plays for them, increasing the lead. We just couldn’t overcome it.”

Baxter wheeled for a layup in the post with 1:18 remaining to push the lead to 61-58. After one State free throw, Maryland milked the shot clock, called timeout and designed a play for Baxter. One turnaround jumper in the post later, State trailed 63-59. Baxter stretched the lead to five points seconds later with a free throw, just like that, he had accomplished his simple goal.

Win.

“Lonny has had a phenomenal year in terms of his ability to score when we need it,”Maryland head coach Gary Williams said. “It’s one thing to score some points, but as you saw today, Lonny usually gets his points when we really need them.”

That generally corresponds to him coming through at the worst possible time for the opponent.

“We were trying our best not to let him score again, but he just did a great job down the home stretch for Maryland,”Wolfpack head coach Herb Sendek said. “The credit goes to Maryland, getting him the ball in a position where he could score, and he really delivered.”

Sendek’s squad was playing at a disadvantage. Damon Thornton, a 6-8 junior forward, missed the game after injuring his ankle in Friday’s quarterfinal game.

“He came back and said he was nowhere near being able to go,”Sendek said. “We really didn’t know to that point. We had a short turnaround from last night, gave it as much treatment as we could. It’s just a very small window of time to turn that around.”

Ready to pick up the slack were Kenny Inge, also a 6-8 junior, and Ron Kelley, a 6-9 junior who didn’t play the last time State met Maryland because of an injury.

“That’s kind of been the reality of our season. Everyone knows we’re better when we have all or our guys,”Sendek said. “But the guys that we had today collectively tried to make up for his absence and they gave great effort. I’m very pleased with that.”

Sendek undoubtedly was pleased Maryland turned to Baxter so sparingly in the early going. If that trend could’ve continued, the sleeping giant might be snoozing today instead of worrying about Duke in the championship game.