March 16, 2000
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By ARNIE STAPLETON
AP Sports Writer
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - No time like the postseason for Terence Morris to live up
to preseason expectations.
"Right now, it's just time to play," Morris said with a shrug after
leading third-seeded Maryland past upstart Iona 74-59 on Thursday night in the
Midwest Regional.
The junior forward who had a rocky regular season after being tagged as the
favorite for ACC player of the year honors had 22 points and 12 rebounds as the
Terrapins (25-9) ran all over the 14th-seeded Gaels (20-11).
"Instead of coming out like Cinderella, we came out like Tinkerbell," said
Iona coach Jeff Ruland, whose team fell behind 23-4 and never really recovered.
Morris, who came on strong toward season's end and played well in the ACC
tournament, had 14 points and 10 rebounds by halftime, when the Terps led
38-25.
"My team just fed off me in the first half," Morris said. "I just wanted
to set an example for the guys."
Off-guard Juan Dixon, who added 20 points, said the Terps relied on Morris,
the only upperclassmen in their starting lineup.
"We just knew we had to get him the ball. That's our All-American. It
starts with him and goes on down the line," Dixon said.
The Terps' lead was 60-32 midway through the second half when the Gaels made
it respectable behind Tariq Kirksay, the player of the year in the Metro
Atlantic Athletic Conference who scored 20 of his 24 points after halftime.
"We were in awe of them a little bit in the first half," Kirksay said.
"They did a great job of stopping me."
Not in the second half they didn't.
The Gaels pulled within 12 points on Kirksay's 3-pointer just inside the
two-minute mark but that was as close as they'd get.
"We didn't finish them off," Morris said, but Terrapins coach Gary
Williams understood why
"I think there's a tendency when you're young, you don't have that killer
instinct," Williams said. "I think that after 30 minutes we kind of stopped
playing."
The Terrapins, who lost four starters from last season's 28-6 team,
including point guard Steve Francis to the NBA, got even younger when sophomore
small forward Danny Miller sat out with a sprained left ankle.
Miller was hurt in the final of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament,
and his injury forced Williams to rely heavily on freshmen Tahj Holden in big
lineups and Drew Nicholas in three-guard sets.
With freshman point guard Steve Blake running the Terps' fast-paced offense,
Maryland jumped out to a 23-4 lead before the Gaels knew what had hit them.
Blake was penetrating at will and kicking the ball outside to Dixon or
finding bulky center Lonny Baxter (12 points, 11 rebounds) underneath the
basket.
Baxter, Holden and Morris were too much for the Gaels.
"Those three guys, they're difficult to stop all at once," Williams said.
Kirksay gave Iona a 2-0 lead, then scored just one more basket the rest of
the half. His five baskets keyed a 14-2 run that pulled the Gaels to 62-46 with
four minutes left.
Ruland said his strategy for the game was to "start off with a good
prayer."
But, thanks to Morris, the Gaels didn't have much of one Thursday night.
