March 15, 2002
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By DAVID GINSBURG
AP Sports Writer
WASHINGTON --
Juan Dixon is leaving nothing to chance in his final NCAA tournament.
A determined Dixon scored 29 points Friday night as top-seeded Maryland cruised past Siena 85-70 in a first-round East Regional game.
Dixon, a senior guard, knows that his next loss will be his last as a college player. So he's not going to stop hustling on the court until the final buzzer of his final game.
"I just wanted to come out and be aggressive," said Dixon, who shot 10-for-17 from the field and made all four free throws. "This is my last time going through this, and I want to tell myself that I went out being aggressive."
Dixon drove to the basket, pulled up for jumpers and deftly passed to open teammates when Siena double-teamed him.
"Once he gets his confidence, he can't be stopped," Maryland forward Byron Mouton said. "I told him to keep shooting, because he was making them. His shooting was a big difference in the game."
Dixon, who scored 20 in the first half, fell two points short of matching the school record shared for points in an NCAA tournament game, held jointly by Len Bias and Joe Smith.
The fourth-ranked Terrapins (27-4) on Sunday will face eighth-seeded Wisconsin, which advanced by defeating St. John's 80-70 earlier Friday night.
Playing against the only team in the 65-team field with a losing record, Maryland made itself right at home at the MCI Center, which is only 20 minutes from the College Park campus.
The Terrapins have played two games a year at the arena in each of the past five seasons. Their familiarity with the building served them well, as did the backing of the hometown crowd.
"We've got the homecourt advantage," Mouton said. "The crowd gave us the extra boost we needed."
Maryland probably would have won without those factors working in its favor. The Terrapins were eager to bounce back from Saturday's loss to North Carolina State in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, and Siena had the misfortune of being Maryland's next opponent.
The loss ended an improbable run by the Saints (17-19), 12-18 before winning the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament and beating Alcorn State 81-77 in an opening-round game Tuesday.
That victory enabled Siena to become only the second team with a losing record to win an NCAA tournament game. But the Saints' bid to become the first 16th seed to beat a No. 1 seed was abruptly rejected by a Maryland team on a mission to win its first national championship.
Siena had 16 turnovers, shot 41 percent and was only 8-for-22 from 3-point range.
"They're good enough without our help, and we helped them quite a bit," Saints coach Rob Lanier said.
James Clinton scored 16 points and Dwayne Archbold added 14 for Siena. Prosper Karangwa, who scored a career-high 31 against Alcorn State, was held to 7 on 3-for-8 shooting.
"They're real good," Archbold said. "We made a lot of mistakes, and they capitalized on almost every one of them."
Siena trailed 24-21 before the Terrapins used a layup by Lonny Baxter, an alley-oop dunk by Chris Wilcox and a four-point play by reserve Drew Nicholas to go up by 11.
The Saints hung around a little longer, but they never could come up with a way to control Dixon, who easily thwarted Siena's man-to-man defense and its 2-3 zone.
Dixon single-handedly turned a 10-point cushion into a 50-31 lead during a 3-minute stretch of the first half. First, he made two free throws and hit a 3-pointer. He then drove to the basket and passed to Tahj Holden, who was fouled on a dunk and made the free throw.
Clifton stopped the run with a basket, but Dixon answered with a 3-pointer.
Maryland led 52-38 at halftime, but coach Gary Williams angrily called a timeout early in the second half after Siena closed to 52-42. Dixon then scored six points in an 8-0 burst that made it 60-42, ending all suspense except whether the ACC player of the year would break the school single-game scoring mark.
He didn't make it, but it was still a very good night for the Terrapins in their first NCAA tournament game as a No. 1 seed.
"You always feel pressure," Williams said. "What do you say if you lose a game like that, and the No. 1 seed? `I'm going to Mexico?' You don't say I'm going to Disneyland, I know that."
