BOISE, Idaho (AP) – With Maryland on the verge of becoming
another upset victim, Steve Blake refused to let anything block the
Terrapins' showdown with former coach Lefty Driesell.
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Tue, May
2
Maryland had a hard-fought win over George Mason and marches on to meet the
Lefthander and Georgia St. in the second round. Lefty Driesell, the former Terps coach,
proclaimed Maryland "the UCLA of the east". Now he gets the chance to face the school
he led for 17 years.
Maryland prevailed over the Patriots because they went 24-for-27 from the free-throw
line. At one point in the game they were 21-for-22 and were able to hang on and ice the
game from the line.
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Blake hit a big 3-pointer with a minute to play and, moments
later, forced a turnover as third-seeded Maryland beat George Mason
83-80 on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA West Regional.
The Terrapins (22-10) advanced to meet Driesell, who was fired
at Maryland 15 years ago. Driesell and his 11th-seeded Georgia
State team advanced with a 50-49 upset of sixth-seeded Wisconsin.
"I was really happy for Lefty that he won," Maryland coach
Gary Williams said. "Nothing against Wisconsin, but knowing his
history I always felt he never got the credit at the university
that he deserved."
Williams also was happy for himself. The Terps had to hang on
against the determined Patriots (18-12) and their star player,
George Evans, a 30-year-old Gulf War veteran who scored 27 points.
Juan Dixon made two free throws with 4.9 seconds remaining, and
Maryland finally breathed easy after Tremaine Price's 3-point try
at the buzzer bounced off the rim.
"We dug down deep in the second half," Williams said. "It was
a struggle, but we won."
|  | | George Mason's Tremaine Price passes the ball through a forest of Terps on Thursday. |
Maryland had won six straight before a dramatic loss to Duke in
last week's ACC semifinals, making the Terps a Final Four
possibility for many forecasters. They almost left with their third
first-round loss in six years.
George Mason closed to 81-80 when Erik Herring completed a
three-point play with 30.9 seconds remaining. Maryland provided
another chance when Terrence Morris missed two free throws with
28.4 seconds remaining.
Up to that point, the Terps had hit 22-of-23 from the line.
The 14th-seeded Patriots worked the ball around, with Price
trying to get it to Evans. The plan was to find Herring for an open
shot or for Evans to isolate his defender and take it to the
basket.
"Maryland switched off our big guy to deny Erik the ball,"
George Mason coach Jim Larranaga said. "That caused us to
adjust."
But Price's feed bounced untouched through Evans' legs and out
of bounds, returning possession to Maryland with six seconds on the
clock. Byron Mouton was fouled on the inbounds play and made his
two shots.
"It was one of those fluke situations," Larranaga said. "Nine
times out 10 and 99 times out of 100, that bounce works and George
catches that pass and we have a pretty good shot."
Maryland led 79-75 after Blake hit a 3-pointer with one minute
to go and 81-77 after Mouton made two free throws with 42.6 seconds
remaining.
"I wanted that shot. I knew it was going in," said Blake, who
scored 13. "Win or lose, I think I'm the one who wanted to take
the ball. I feel comfortable taking shots like that."
Blake helped Maryland come up with a big steal on George Mason's
ensuing possession when he slapped the ball from Jon Larranaga and
Mouton came away with it.
"The guy posted up and wasn't looking at me," Blake said. "I
saw my opportunity and got the ball away from him. It was good that
I didn't foul him, and it was big that we got the ball back."
Dixon and Mouton scored 22 points each for Maryland, which
improved to 5-0 against George Mason. While the schools are
separated by 30 miles, the Terps might not want to see their
neighbors again anytime soon.
Unlike during their first-round loss to Cincinnati two years
year, the Patriots weren't awestruck by Maryland. Many of the
players on both teams know each other from summer league games in
the Washington area.
"When you're a lower seed, rather than a top seed, we could
jump on them and pressure them the whole way," Evans said. "We
could play our game and put them in the position to make plays down
the stretch, and they did."
Herring scored 19 and Jesse Young had 12 for the Patriots.
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ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
George Mason Clubhouse
Maryland Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Coach Gary Williams warns people not to question the effort of Maryland.
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Juan Dixon and Terps stumbled a bit, but don't expect to be tripped up.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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