Terps romp past Rams

For about 18 minutes Winston-Salem State stood toe-to-toe with ACC heavyweight Maryland last night, but then the knockout blow came in a hurry.

The Terps, behind senior Greivis Vasquez, pounded the Rams to the tune of 98-55 at the Comcast Center. Despite the crowd wanting their team to reach 100 points, Coach Gary Williams instructed his team to hold the ball with about 11 seconds left.

What surprised center Paul Davis of the Rams wasn't how good Vasquez played (27 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds and three steals), but how well the other Terps shot the ball.

"Their shooting was really great tonight and we knew (Vasquez) was going to get his points but everybody shot really well for them," Davis said. "They just had a good shooting night."

The Rams used a pretty effective zone early in the game, and it forced the Terps (7-3) to do their damage from the outside. The Terps didn't score any points in the paint in the first half, which prompted Williams to make a point at halftime.

The Terps came out to start the second half and got the ball inside early and often, and continued to shoot well from the outside. The Terps shot 57 percent, and were 12 of 18 on 3-point attempts.

Coach Bobby Collins of the Rams, whose team fell to 2-7, tried to mix up his defenses in the second half but nothing worked.

"I don't even think that they thought they could shoot the ball that well," Collins said about the Terps. "They were 12 of 18 on 3-pointers, and you aren't going to win games when an opponent shoots like that."

Four other Terps scored in double figures, led by Cliff Tucker, who came off the bench to score 13 and was 5-of-5 shooting. Three of those shots were 3-pointers.

Guard Lamar Monger of the Rams said that they had trouble keeping up with the Terps once they got it rolling. Over the final two minutes of the half and the first seven minutes of the second half, the Terps went on a 41-5 run that ended any chance the Rams might have of making it a close game.

"He's a great player," Monger said of Vasquez, one of the top players in the ACC. "He's very smart and he makes them go."

The Rams made it interesting early and with 3:13 left in the half trailed just 33-29 after Brian Fisher's layup.

But the Terps closed the half with an 8-0 run as Vasquez forced a turnover at midcourt when Andrew Jackson tried to split a double team on a pass attempt. Vasquez went in for the dunk, and then later hit a 3-pointer before making a nice pass to Tucker who made a 3-pointer to complete the 8-0 run.

Vasquez, who said he was in a slump of late, joked that he was disappointed he missed getting in double figures in three statistical categories.

"I just want to win, that's all that matters to me," he said.

The Rams, meanwhile, are still searching for that elusive victory against a Division I school this season. And it won't get any easier next week with a game at Georgia Tech.

Davis, who led the Rams with 15 points and seven rebounds, said that playing in front of the always-charged up Maryland students was fun. Even though the school is on break, there were plenty of students at the game.

"The atmosphere was great and I fed off it," Davis said. "So it didn't intimidate me at all."

What did intimidate the Rams was when the Terps turned up their defensive pressure. The Rams finished with 19 turnovers, many off the half-court and full-court traps.

"I thought we competed," Collins said. "For about 18 minutes we were right there, but then they started a run and Drew had that turnover in the backcourt that led to a dunk and that started it."

The Rams actually tied the game at 12 with 12:50 left in the half when Shelton Carter hit a 3-pointer from the baseline. That quieted the Maryland fans, at least for a little while.

Collins said that he saw some positives despite the 43-point loss.

"It's an ACC school, so I'm not going to say the season is over because of this game," Collins said. "I thought we competed and played like we are capable of for a little while."

Williams, whose Terps were playing their first game in 10 days, said: "I think we had to play through some rust, while at the same time Winston-Salem State was playing pretty good basketball. They have some quickness that caused problems early."

jdell@wsjournal.com.



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WSSU Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts

Monger 24 4-11 1-6 0-2 0 2 9

Fisher 33 4-14 0-0 1-6 3 4 9

Jackson 26 3-6 0-0 1-1 3 4 7

Davis 26 6-10 3-5 3-7 1 4 15

Johnson 13 0-2 1-2 3-4 0 1 1

Wells 22 0-5 2-2 2-3 3 0 2

Carter 26 2-5 0-0 2-2 3 1 6

Kennings 5 0-2 0-0 1-1 0 1 0

Bolton Jr 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Green 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Platt 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Hobbs 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Morris 14 3-5 0-2 2-4 0 0 6

Totals 200 22-62 7-17 16-36 13 18 55

Percentages: FG .355, FT .412. 3-Point Goals: 4-18, .222 (Carter 2-4, Jackson 1-4, Fisher 1-5, Monger 0-1, Hobbs 0-1, Kennings 0-1, Wells 0-2). Team Rebounds: 6. Blocked Shots: 0. Turnovers: 19 (Jackson 6, Carter 4, Fisher 4, Johnson, Wells, Morris, Green). Steals: 6 (Wells 3, Monger, Carter, Davis). Technical Fouls: None.

MD. Min FG-A Ft-A OR-T A PF Pts

Milbourne 27 4-11 0-2 1-4 0 1 8

Hayes 22 3-6 2-2 0-2 2 2 10

Mosley 27 3-6 6-6 0-4 3 2 12

Vasquez 30 9-16 5-5 3-8 11 0 27

Gregory 19 0-0 0-2 0-3 1 4 0

Choi 3 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

Levent 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Williams 18 4-4 4-6 2-8 0 3 12

Bowie 21 3-5 0-0 0-3 5 1 9

Tucker 17 5-5 0-1 0-2 0 1 13

Padgett 13 2-4 3-4 2-2 0 2 7

Totals 200 33-58 20-28 8-39 22 16 98

Percentages: FG .569, FT .714. 3-Point Goals: 12-18, .667 (Vasquez 4-4, Tucker 3-3, Bowie 3-5, Hayes 2-4, Milbourne 0-1, Mosley 0-1). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 6 (Tucker 2, Williams 2, Mosley 2). Turnovers: 9 (Tucker 2, Hayes 2, Padgett, Gregory, Vasquez, Milbourne, Bowie). Steals: 12 (Milbourne 5, Vasquez 3, Williams, Gregory, Padgett, Hayes). Technical Fouls: None.

WSSU 29 26 -- 55


Maryland 41 57 -- 98

A--14,262