Maryland slipped through Wake Forest's foul-perforated defense to a 70-64 victory Wednesday in front of 13,357 at Comcast Center.
The Deacons held Maryland to seven field goals and 24 percent accuracy in the second half, yet they couldn't keep the Terps off the free-throw line enough to overcome a stumbling start.
"It was crazy,'' senior Ty Walker said. "Coach told us that, and I was thinking to myself, 'That's unbelievable — 24 percent.' "
Wake Forest committed 28 personal fouls, which Maryland turned into 24 free throws on 37 attempts. And that's how the Deacons got vintage performances from Travis McKie and Ty Walker while shooting 56 percent in the second half and still headed home 10-6 overall and 1-1 in ACC play.
The Terps, led by Terrell Stoglin's 20 points, improved to 11-4 and 1-1.
"You have to give hats to them for being aggressive,'' C.J. Harris said. "But we've got to do a better job getting in the defensive stance, having active hands and active feet and moving.
"That's something we didn't do a good job of.''
McKie had 25 points and seven rebounds, and Walker delivered perhaps his best game as a Deacon with eight points, nine rebounds and eight blocks. It was all rendered insufficient by an inability to pull down a defensive rebound or defend without fouling.
Carson Desrosiers fouled out in eight minutes, and McKie, Harris, Tony Chennault and Chase Fischer all piled up four fouls. The foul woes — which resulted in Maryland shooting the bonus for the final 14:36 and the double bonus for the final 11:37 — severely limited coach Jeff Bzdelik's personnel options on defense in the final nine minutes, after Wake Forest had cut an 18-point first-half deficit to 50-47 with a 21-6 surge.
Maryland made two field goals in the final eight minutes, but preserved its lead by hitting 11 of 16 free throws.
"We were guarding the ball, but we were fouling way too much,'' Walker said. "We got in the double bonus way too early, and Carson fouled out early. It was just a couple of, I guess you could say, bone-headed fouls.
"We've just got to be aggressive, but aggressive to the point that we don't foul.''
For all the hard work done by Walker and McKie, the Deacons were again an easy touch on their defensive boards. Maryland outrebounded Wake Forest 45-37 by swarming for 21 offensive rebounds.
Wake Forest trailed by four after McKie drilled a 3-pointer with 3:12 left, then forced a miss by Stoglin on the ensuing possession. But James Padgett (11 points, eight rebounds) hustled for the rebound, drew the foul, and made both free throws for a 65-59 lead.
The Terps scored 17 second-chance points.
Although the Deacons pulled to 66-62 on a free throw by Daniel Green, only 24.8 seconds remained. Stoglin answered with two free throws, Mychal Parker made one, and Stoglin iced the game with one with 3.4 seconds left.
"We had the game,'' McKie said. "It just came down to second-chance points, getting them to the free-throw line and rebounding.
"We are going to come back to work (today), correct the things that need to be corrected and get ready for Saturday."
The Deacons will play N.C. State on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Joel Coliseum.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement