Dec. 19, 2004

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• The Maryland basketball team (No. 23 AP/No. 19 USA Today/ESPN) rode the back of junior point guard John Gilchrist and earned a hard-fought 90-88 overtime victory over Florida State Sunday evening at Comcast Center in the teams' exhilarating ACC opener. Maryland has now won 23 of 29 games all-time against the Noles. It was Maryland's first overtime victory since they defeated Duke 95-87 in the 2004 ACC Tournament final. Florida State has not won a road ACC contest in 25 games, a drought that lasts nearly three years.

• Gilchrist led the Terps with 21 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists, all team highs, and drained the game-winning free throws with 6.6 seconds left in overtime. It was the first time a player has achieved that feat since Gilchrist did so at Duke last year. The 13 rebounds easily eclipsed his previous high (10 vs. Memphis, 11/26/04) and the 8 assists were one shy of a career-best.

• Six Terrapins reached double-digit scoring for the second time this season (vs. George Washington, 12/5/04). Chris McCray poured in 14 points, Ekene Ibekwe totaled 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, while Nik Caner-Medley, James Gist and D.J. Strawberry each contributed 11 points.

• Strawberry scored the Terps' first five points of overtime to dig his team out of a four-point deficit and had four of Maryland's 12 steals. Mike Jones nailed a critical three-point field goal for his only points of the game with less than one minute remaining in overtime.

• Gist continues to mature and show flashes of brilliance, bringing the crowd to its feet with hard work on both ends of the floor. In addition to the 11 points, he set career-highs with 7 rebounds and 4 blocks in 31 minutes of action.

• Will Bowers also had a strong showing with a career-high 5 rebounds in 14 minutes of play.

• Adam Waleskowski had 23 points and 14 rebounds and was one of two Seminoles who recorded double-doubles. Al Thornton's 16 points and 13 rebounds are career-highs.

• Maryland forced 25 Seminole turnovers, the third time this season that they have forced opponents to turn the ball over at least 25 times.

• Ibekwe helped the Terps jump out of the gates early by scoring his team's first five points. Gist continued his maturation on both ends of the court, rejecting Al Thornton on the defensive end before hitting a tough fallaway jumper while being fouled to give Maryland a 13-6 lead with 13:11 remaining in the half. One minute later, Gilchrist heaved a halfcourt pass to an airborne Strawberry who finished with a lay-in to up the Terrapin lead to 17-8. Maryland drained 7-of-11 field goal attempts to start the half.

• Maryland enjoyed a modest lead throughout much of the opening half, building double-digit margins on several occasions. But Florida State used a 6-0 run to close the gap to 37-33 with less than one minute remaining. Gilchrist scored the Terps' final five points of the half, spinning away from a defender to knock down a three-pointer with four second left to give Maryland a 42-35 halftime edge. Gilchrist paced the Terps across the box score with 14 points, dished out 5 rebounds and pulled down 5 rebounds, all team-highs.

• Maryland's defense hindered Florida State's execution by forcing 9 turnovers in the opening 12 minutes, compared to just one assist. At halftime, the Noles registered only 4 assists and committed 13 miscues

• After the break, the Terps extended its lead to 59-46 in the opening five minutes. But Florida State would slowly chip away, cutting the lead to 66-63 with 8:28 remaining. Maryland would again open up an 8-point lead, but the Seminoles refused to give in, inching back to even the contest at 77 with 1:57 left on a Thornton rebound and lay-in.

• Gist knocked down one of two free throws before Waleskowski's lay-in gave the Seminoles its first lead of the game at 79-78. McCray followed with two at the charity stripe to regain the lead. Thornton hit one of two at the line to knot the game at 80 and send it to an extra session.