March 9, 2001

Box Score| Quotes| Notes

By PAUL NEWBERRY
AP Sports Writer

ATLANTA - No. 11 Maryland picked a good time to get on its best roll of the season.

The No. 11 Terrapins won their sixth straight game with another dominating performance, routing No. 22 Wake Forest 71-53 in the quarterfinals of the Atlanta Coast Conference tournament Friday night.

Maryland (21-9) has defeated five ranked teams on its current streak, including Wake Forest (19-10) twice. The average margin in those victories: a scary 19.5 points.

"We're peaking at the right time," said Juan Dixon, who led Maryland with 15 points.

Not bad for a team that seemed in danger of missing the NCAA tournament after an embarrassing 74-71 loss at home to Florida State on Feb. 17. The Terrapins haven't been beaten since and advanced to a semifinal meeting Saturday against No. 3 Duke.

Lonny Baxter added 14 points for the Terrapins, but it was the dirty work that powered this victory. Maryland dominated the boards most of the night and limited the Demon Deacons to 32 percent (19-of-60) shooting in their lowest scoring game of the season.

"We're doing things we weren't doing earlier in the season," Dixon said. "We're playing good defense, getting rebounds, keeping the other team to one shot. Hopefully, we'll keep it up."

Wake Forest's futility was epitomized by a measly five assists.

"Offensively, we just played terrible," said Ervin Murray, who missed all three of his shots. "They just looked tougher than us, and they were. They wanted it more than us."

Wake Forest coach Dave Odom believes his team has enough victories to earn an NCAA bid, though there may be some anxious moments Sunday evening.

The Deacons are 8-10 since Jan. 1 and, with a chance to impress the selection committee, responded with perhaps their worst game of the season. Wake Forest was averaging 77.9 points and had not scored less than 62 until Friday.

The Georgia Dome, packed with a record crowd of 40,083, was virtually empty by the end of the night. The Terps, leading only 31-26 at the break, finished off the Deacons with an 18-4 run to begin the second half.

"This was probably our biggest game of the year," said Craig Dawson, who played only one minute for Wake Forest before dislocating his left shoulder. "We were playing in front of 40,000 people. There was no reason to be tentative or nervous about anything."

The Demon Deacons still expect their name called by the NCAA.

"We feel good about it," Odom said. "But until it's done, there's no reason to sit here and say we're in or we're not in. Experience tells us that you're better off waiting."

Maryland baffled the Wake defenders in the second half, hitting from inside and out. Steve Blake connected on back-to-back-3-pointers while Terence Morris and Baxter controlled the lane.

Dixon finished off the run with a great crossover dribble, leaving himself with an open jumper from the top of the lane.

"I don't know if we're unstoppable," Blake said. "But if we play well and execute the way we know we can, we can beat anybody."

The Florida State game was the turning point.

"We had to come together as a team," Blake said. "We started to have fun again, and everything has clicked since that time."

Now, the Terps will face a team that provided another devastating loss, though Maryland already has avenged that setback.

After Duke rallied from 10 points down in the final minute to win at Maryland, the Terps bounced back with a 91-80 victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium on their current streak.

"That's becoming a great rivalry," Dixon said. "A lot of people are looking forward to this game."

Wake Forest was hampered by the loss of Dawson, who was injured when a Maryland player blocked out on a rebound. Dawson watched the rest of the game from the bench, his arm in a sling.

"The second half, it just didn't seem like we played with much intensity," he said. "Those weren't my teammates out there."

Robert O'Kelley scored 20 points, but no other Wake Forest player had more than eight.