CHARLOTTE — Just when Florida State came tantalizingly close to taking a second-half lead on Maryland, the Terrapins slowly tortured the Seminoles into submission.
Florida State opened the second half on an 11-2 run to close within 42-41 with 15:10 left, but the Terps followed up with a 21-0 outburst of their own to wipe out the upset-minded Seminoles 85-59 in the ACC quarterfinals on Friday at the Charlotte Coliseum.
Seven different players scored for Maryland during the run, which took nearly seven minutes to complete.
“”We raised it up 10, 15 percent in terms of activity, then we were OK,” Maryland coach Gary Williams said.
The top-seeded Terrapins (26-3) cruised to a 12-point halftime lead, but Monte Cummings(19 points) made matters interesting by scoring FSU’s first 10 points after the break.
When Trevor Harvey later completed a three-point play, the streaking Seminoles seemed poised for a 40-minute battle.
But their fortune couldn’t have gotten much worse, while Maryland’s couldn’t have gotten much better.
Play was stopped after Harvey’s free throw for a television timeout, the third break in the action in the first five minutes of the half.
“It didn’t matter if it was a T.V. timeout, I would have burned another one,”Williams said. “You don’t want to keep them in your pocket.”
Steve Blake got the Terps going with a 3-pointer on Maryland’s first possession after the timeout. The Terrapins hit seven of their first eight shots to start the run and scored on eight of their first nine possessions.
The Seminoles (12-17) didn’t help themselves, missing all 12 of their shots during Maryland’s decisive run.
“They’re an explosive team,” Florida State coach Steve Robinson said.“One basket leads to two, and two leads to three. We had shots rolling around the rim, and I can’t tell you how many shots were almost there.”
Anthony Richardson ended FSU’s drought with two free throws with 7:56 left to play, and the Seminoles misfired on four more shots in a row after that.
Florida State, which defeated Clemson in last night’s play-in game, shot 11 of 35 in the second half.
“There’s always such a quick turnaround,” Robinson said. “We tried to calm them and convince them everything would be OK.
“For about 25 minutes, we had given ourselves every chance to do it, but we had a stretch where none of our shots could do down for us.”
The Seminoles didn’t exactly shoot lights out in the first half, either. They hit on 7 of 25 attempts in the first 20 minutes and finished the game at 30 percent.
Byron Mouton, who finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, hit his first four shots to put the Terrapins ahead 19-7 seven minutes in.
He hit a jumper with 14:50 left to give Maryland a 13-7 lead and confidently pumped his right fist.
On the Terps’ next trip down the floor, FSU’s Antwuan Dixon accidentally tipped in a miss by Maryland’s Juan Dixon, who scored a game-high 20 points.
Mouton got credit for the basket, and he pumped his fist again.
Blake followed up with a Larry Bird-like, one-handed follow shot of the glass, and Mouton pumped his fist yet again.
“He’s been our unsung hero,”Williams said of Mouton.
Blake (10 points, seven assists, five rebounds) and Lonny Baxter (10 points) also finished in double figures for the Terps.
Nigel Dixon almost recorded a triple-double for Florida State, amassing 13 points, 12 rebounds and eight turnovers in 22 minutes. Senior Delvon Arrington struggled in his final game, going 3-for-13 from the field for nine points.
Arrington had scored a career-high 24 points on Thursday night in 44 minutes.
“I can’t blame it on that,”Arrington said of fatigue. “This is what we live for, to play the game of basketball. Out there on the court, you forget about those things.”
n
Contact Bret Strelow at 704-797-4258 or bstrelow@salisburypost.com
.
Today's News
