Dominating inside: Deacons, with big edge in paint, hold off Terrapins 65-63

Surging Wake Forest was a tall order last night for a Maryland team desperately needing a victory to bolster its NCAA Tournament resume.

Too tall, as it turned out.

The 10th-ranked Deacons pounded the smaller Terps on the backboards and blocked 10 shots to power their way to a 65-63 victory at the Comcast Center. Freshman Al-Farouq Aminu anchored Wake Forest's dominant inside game with 16 points, a season-high 14 rebounds and two blocked shots as the Deacons clinched a first-round bye in next week's ACC Tournament with their fifth win in six games.

"We said all year long these guys have a lot of character and big hearts," Coach Dino Gaudio of the Deacons told ISP Sports after the game. "We just clawed and fought our way back.

"I thought Farouq was really good in the second half. The youngster did a great job on the road in a tough environment. So it was a good win for us."

Wake Forest, which out-rebounded Maryland 46-27 and scored 20 points on possessions extended by offensive rebounds, improved to 23-5 and 10-5 in the ACC going into Sunday's regular-season finale against Clemson at Joel Coliseum. Maryland fell to 18-11 and 7-8.

Jeff Teague missed his first five 3-point attempts, but found his stroke in time to lead Wake Forest with 17 points. And junior reserve Ish Smith continued his late-season resurgence with 11 points, four assists and just one turnover in 33 effective minutes.

Dave Neal, a senior playing his final home game for Maryland, drilled three 3-pointers in less than 2½ minutes to spark the Terps to a 54-48 lead with 7½ minutes remaining. The Deacons answered with 11 straight points, taking the lead on 3-pointers by Teague and Smith on successive possessions and extending their advantage to 59-54 on a follow shot by Smith with 2:45 left.

After the Terps clawed back to 59-58 on a follow shot by Neal, James Johnson tapped in his own miss for a three-point lead. Johnson then blocked an inside shot by Neal with 40 seconds left, and Teague, who had struggled with his shot for a third straight game, put the game away with four straight free throws.

Neal's final 3-pointer just before the buzzer accounted for the final margin. Neal finished with a career-high 19 points and six rebounds and Greivis Vasquez scored 16, despite making only seven of 24 shots from the floor.

Vasquez scored Maryland's first two field goals of the second half. He didn't score again, going the final 16:50 without a point.

Fueling the Deacons' winning rally was a move by Gaudio from their standard man-to-man defense to a 1-3-1 zone. Wake Forest deployed the defense trailing by six with 7:45 remaining, and Maryland quit attacking the basket and launched 3-point attempts on four straight possessions.

All four missed the mark as the Deacons stormed into the lead. Gaudio said his team installed the defense on Sunday, a day after returning from a 70-60 victory at Virginia.

Wake Forest played the second half without starting center Chas McFarland, who sprained his knee falling to the court with 16½ minutes left in the first half.

Wake Forest's deepest first-half deficit was 27-16, which came during Maryland's 20-6 surge. Gary Clark kept the Deacons' offense from bottoming out completely by hitting two 3-pointers off assists from Smith.

Clark's two baskets were the Deacons' only field goals over an 18-possession span.

"He kept us alive," Gaudio said. "That was huge."

Johnson's pull-up jumper off a fast break got Wake Forest back on track as the Deacons scored six straight points to pull to 27-22 with 2½ minutes left in the half. Teague missed a wide-open 3-point attempt that would have sliced the lead to two, but followed in his own miss a possession later to pull Wake Forest to 27-24.

After Sean Mosley scored for the Terps off an assist from Vasquez, Ish Smith hit one of two free throws for the Deacons. Neal then drilled a 3-pointer from the left corner for a seven-point halftime lead.

WFU Min FG FT OR-T A PF PT

Aminu 34 6-12 3-4 6-14 2 1 16

Johnson 32 4-11 1-3 6-8 0 2 9

McFarland 8 2-3 0-0 1-4 1 0 4

Teague 37 6-16 4-5 1-2 1 2 17

Williams 19 1-4 0-0 0-0 0 4 2

Clark 14 2-4 0-0 0-4 1 1 6

Hale 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Smith 33 4-11 2-3 1-3 4 1 11

Weaver 9 0-0 0-0 1-6 0 1 0

Woods 11 0-2 0-2 2-5 0 0 0

Totals 200 25-63 10-17 19-50 9 12 65

Percentages: FG .397, FT .588. 3-Point Goals: 5-15, .333 (Clark 2-4, Smith 1-2, Aminu 1-2, Teague 1-6, Johnson 0-1). Team Rebounds: 4. Blocked Shots: 10 (Weaver 2, Johnson 2, Aminu 2, Teague 2, Woods, McFarland). Turnovers: 16 (Woods 3, Johnson 3, Teague 3, Williams 2, Clark 2, McFarland, Aminu, Smith). Steals: 6 (Smith 2, McFarland, Aminu, Clark, Hale).

MARYLAND Min FG FT OR-T A PF PT

Milbourne 30 1-6 0-0 0-2 0 1 2

Neal 23 7-11 0-0 2-6 0 3 19

Mosley 23 2-6 2-2 2-5 3 1 6

Vasquez 39 7-24 0-0 1-5 7 2 16

Bowie 18 3-5 0-0 2-3 0 3 6

Dupree 6 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 4

Hayes 28 3-8 0-0 1-2 4 2 6

Tucker 12 1-3 0-0 0-1 1 2 2

Gregory 21 1-3 0-0 1-3 0 2 2

Totals 200 27-69 2-2 11-32 15 17 63

Percentages: FG .391, FT 1.000. 3-Point Goals: 7-19, .368 (Neal 5-6, Vasquez 2-8, Tucker 0-1, Milbourne 0-1, Hayes 0-3). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 3 (Milbourne 2, Gregory). Turnovers: 10 (Vasquez 4, Bowie 2, Hayes, Tucker, Neal). Steals: 8 (Vasquez 3, Mosley 2, Tucker, Hayes, Dupree).

Wake Forest 25 40 -- 65


Maryland 32 31 -- 63

A--17,950