March 15, 2001

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Box Score

By TIM KORTE
AP Sports Writer

BOISE, Idaho - 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.

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."

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.