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March 3, 2001
By JOSEPH WHITE
AP Sports Writer
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Juan Dixon’s 21 points led five players in doublefigures as No. 16 Maryland, its pair of slumps long forgotten, dismantled No. 7Virginia 102-67 Saturday to end the regular season with back-to-back victoriesover Top 10 teams.
The 35-point victory, matching Maryland’s biggest ever over Virginia,clinched third place in the Atlantic Coast Conference for the Terrapins (20-9,10-6), who will play sixth-seeded Wake Forest in the first round of theconference tournament on Friday.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Cavaliers (20-7, 9-7),who finished 2-6 on the road in the ACC and will face fifth-seeded Georgia Techon Friday. Virginia, which beat the Terrapins by 21 points just five weeks ago,hasn’t won at Cole Field House in 1993.
Maryland, which had a three-game losing streak in November and a 1-5 dive inlate January and early February, finished the season with five straight winsover four ranked teams. The Terrapins won at Duke on Tuesday, giving themconsecutive victories over Top 10 teams for the first time since 1976 and onlythe second time ever.
Backup point guard Drew Nicholas had 16 points and a career-high 10 assists,Lonny Baxter scored 15 points, Terrence Morris had 14 points and 13 rebounds,and Danny Miller scored a season-high 14 points with six rebounds and sixassists for the Terrapins.
Roger Mason led Virginia with 16 points. Chris Williams had 15.
Maryland shot 62 percent – including 72 percent in the second half – asMiller and Dixon took turns supplying the scoring punch in the first half. Butit was the defense that frustrated Virginia’s attack and allowed fewuncontested shots.
The score was 47-34 at halftime, and the game was essentially over in thefirst few minutes of the second half after Cavaliers point guard Donald Handhad four unsuccessful drives into the paint: He was blocked twice and missedthe two others in heavy traffic. Travis Watson’s 3-point airball was futherevidence of a shaken team.
Both point guards were on the bench with two fouls 5 1/2 minutes into the game,but it was reserve forward Miller who came off the bench to become theunexpected early hero.
Miller, averaging 4.5 points, took over the game during a 13-2 run thatMaryland ahead for good. He scored 11 of Maryland’s 17 points over a six-minutestretch, mixing a 3-pointer with a pair of 3-point plays off strong drives asthe lead grew to 33-22.
Dixon, who had yet to score, then scored the Terapins’ next nine points asMaryland shot 53 percent in the first half. Dixon has averaged 25.5 points overthe last four games.
Hand, who led a 99-78 victory over Maryland at University Hall on Jan. 31,didn’t stay on the bench long after picking up his second foul, but he was shutdown when he returned. Hand was just 1-for-4 with one assist in the first halfand finished 3-for-11 with nine points and three assists.