GEORGE WASHINGTON vs. MARYLAND Postgame Quotes & Notes - Dec. 5, 1999

1999 BB&T Classic All-Tournament Team
(MVP) SirValiant Brown, George Washington
Juan Dixon, Maryland
Lonny Baxter, Maryland
Cory Bradford, Illinois
Darius Lane, Seton Hall

Postgame Quotes - George Washington (4-3)
Head Coach Tom Penders overall: "Our strategy was to make it difficult for [Terence] Morris to get his looks and get to the basket. I thought, defensively, that our guys did a great job, particularly in containing him. [Morris] is a great basketball player, but I thought that the key to our defense was our guards. [Maryland] never felt comfortable. We forced them into a lot of traps and zones. We beat a very good basketball team and I'm very proud."

Penders on GW's progress: "We're progressing quite nicely but we've got a tough schedule. We haven't played an easy team, yet."

GW's Chris Monroe (freshman from Good Counsel HS in Hyattsville, Md.): "It's very personal. I grew up in this area. Maryland was big when I was growing up. I looked at them and I just wanted to play against them. Tonight, I got to do that and I just wanted to do well."

Postgame Quotes - Maryland (6-2)
Head Coach Gary Williams overall: "I thought GW really outworked us. You could tell in the loose ball situations, the way we turned the ball over early. They just did a better job than we did. I think they hurt us on the boards some times, tonight. We didn't do too many things really well, but you have to give George Washington credit for that. We still had chances down the stretch. We fought back and did a few things well in situations. They played well and they made us pay for it. That's the way that one goes."

Williams on GW's defense of Terence Morris: "They were very physical. They just banged him around a lot and it worked."

Williams on GW's guard play: "I was impressed [with GW's guards]. They looked very quick and they were able to get to the free throw line. We came into the game not wanting to put them on the line, but they dribble penetrated more than we thought they would do. We thought we could play good enough defense where they wouldn't do it, but they did a good job."

Maryland's Terence Morris: "[GW] wanted it more than we did. We couldn't do what we wanted to do in the first half, and it carried over to the rest of the game. We made runs and tried to capitalize, but they came back on us. We weren't playing the game we were capable of playing. We all got kind of frustrated."

Game Notes
Meeting in the finals of the BB&T Classic for the third time in the tournament's last four seasons, George Washington downed No. 23/24 Maryland to claim its second title, 74-69 ... GW upset No. 19 Maryland in 1997 for a 70-66 win ... the three Maryland-GW finals in the BB&T Classic have been decided by 4 (1997), 5 (1999) and 6 points (1996) ... it was Maryland's first loss this season to an unranked team (5-1) ... GW withstood six second half lead changes and two ties ... there were 11 lead changes in the game overall, and seven ties ... the Colonials took command of the game at the 11:00 mark of the second half on a bucket by Patrick Ngongba to command GW to a 52-51 lead ... it was the final lead change of the evening, though Maryland tied the score at 67 with 1:38 to play on a basket by Danny Miller ... Bernard Barrow buried a 3-pointer with a minute remaining to give the Colonials their final lead ... freshman SirValiant Brown led all scorers with 27 points, including three free throws in the final minute ... including 23 points in the opening-round win over Seton Hall, Brown finished the tournament with 50 points, one point shy of the tournament record 51 points by Maryland's Keith Booth in 1996 ... the 50-point effort is second all-time and exceeds a 49-point total by Kansas' Raef LaFrentz in 1997 ... Brown hit 13 of 14 free throws in the championship game ... Brown had a chance for a 15th free throw with 29 seconds remaining, and a chance to tie the tournament two-game scoring record, but lost the opportunity when Ngongba was charged with a lane violation ... Brown was 16 of 18 from the charity stripe in the tournament ... second in the nation in scoring, Brown has scored in double figures in all seven Colonial games, and has scored 20 or better in six straight ... the two-game win streak is GW's longest of the season ... it is GW's second game decided by 5 points or fewer this season, losing to Houston, 93-92 ... Maryland's Lonny Baxter finished in double figures for the eighth straight game this season, leading the Terrapins with a season-high 21 points ... he recorded double-digit scoring exactly eight times all of last season ... he has led the Terps in scoring twice this season and three times in his career ...Baxter has scored in double-figures and had at least eight rebounds in every game this season ... he had a game-high nine rebounds against GW ... he was one rebound shy of becoming the first Terp since Joe Smith in 1995 to register four consecutive double-doubles ... the Terps' have hit a 3-point field goal in 127 straight games, dating to March 18, 1995 in a second-round NCAA tourney victory over Texas ... ironically, it was the last time that G.W. coach Tom Penders faced the Terrapins ... Penders is 1-1 lifetime against Maryland ... All-America candidate Terence Morris finished with 12 points and six blocked shots ... Morris' six blocks were a tournament record, as was Maryland's 10 blocks as a team ... it was his third game this season with six blocks or more ... he needs 110 points to become the 35th player in Maryland history to eclipse the 1,000-point barrier for his career ... the loss leaves Maryland coach Gary Williams two wins shy of his 200th career win in 11 seasons at Maryland ... he can hit that plateau with wins this week over Winthrop (Tuesday) and Kentucky (Saturday), both at Cole Field House ... Maryland, which shot exactly 50 percent (25-50) for the game, has outshot its opponent in all eight games this season