Feb. 28, 2004

Recap| Box Score| Quotes| Photo Gallery

* The Maryland basketball team dropped a physical, tooth-and-nail affair to Wake Forest 91-83 Saturday afternoon at Comcast Center as they wind down the 2003-04 regular season. The Terps fall to 14-11 overall and 5-9 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, while Wake extends their winning streak to six games in improving to 19-6 overall and 9-5 in the top-notch ACC.

* Despite the Deacs victory, Maryland still owns a 56-53 advantage in the all-time match-up with Wake Forest, who snapped a five-game losing streak in College Park.

* John Gilchrist led four Terrapins in double figures with 26 points - one shy of his career-high - including several key buckets down the stretch as Maryland tried to claw their way from behind. He connected on 9-of-17 field goals, adding a team-high 5 assists, as well as 4 rebounds. Nik Caner-Medley also eclipsed the 20-point mark, making it just the second time this season that two Terps tallied 20 points or more (vs. North Carolina on Jan. 14). Chris McCray had a strong game off the bench to total 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting (4 rebounds, 4 assists), while Travis Garrison pitched in 10 points.

* A lights-out shooting performance that saw the Terps connect on 10 of their first 14 field-goal attempts (also five of their first six) contributed to a breakneck pace in the game's opening minutes. Gilchrist scored 6 of Maryland's first 8 points, while Wake Forest connected on 5 of their first 8 three-point field goals to maintain a small lead throughout the game's opening 10 minutes. McCray's baseline three-pointer gave Maryland a 26-25 lead, although five quick points by Justin Gray reestablished the Deacs' slight edge.

* After Maryland tied the game at the charity stripe, two straight trifectas from Taron Downey and Chris Paul and back-to-back buckets by Jamaal Levy gave Wake a 40-30 advantage with 3:35 remaining in the half.

* Gilchrist led the first-half Terrapin effort with 8 points while Caner-Medley contributed 7 points and rejected two shots, while McCray came off the bench to also add 7 points. In building a 46-34 halftime lead, Wake was led by Vytas Danelius's 11 points (3-4 from beyond the arc) and 8 points apiece from Jamaal Levy (who also pulled down 8 first-half boards) and Justin Gray.

* Hassan Fofana saw 13 minutes of action off the bench in the first half, leading Maryland with 5 rebounds and 3 blocks - part of a first-half 7-block effort, which equaled their ACC-leading blocks-per-game average.

* Nearly half of Wake's 18 first-half field goals came from long-distance, as they drained 7-of-10 treys - 3 by Danelius, 2 by Gray and one each from Chris Paul and Taron Downey.

* Wake increased its lead to 57-41 early in the second half, before the Terps responded with a 13-2 spurt over a three-minute stretch to close the gap to 59-54 with 13:32 remaining. Again, Maryland was hot from the field, connecting on 10 of their first 15 field-goal attempts to close the gap. Two Gilchrist free throws cut the margin to 64-62, before Levy's acrobatic lay-in and another trey from Downey extended Wake's edge to seven.

* Consecutive three-pointers from Danelius and Downey gave the Deacons a 75-64 advantage, but the Terps stormed back to climb within 79-74 and slimmed the margin to four points on several occasions down the stretch, before running out of time.

* Relentless defensive pressure by Maryland translated into 22 Deacon turnovers that resulted in 25 points off turnovers. It was the fifth consecutive game in which the Terps have forced at least 19 turnovers (22 vs. Clemson on Feb. 24, 22 vs. North Carolina on Feb. 15, 20 vs. Georgia Tech on Feb. 19 and 19 vs. Duke on Feb. 22). Over that stretch, Maryland opponents have averaged 21 turnovers per game. In the second half, Wake turned the ball over 11 times, compared to just four for Maryland.

* Maryland also registered 10 blocks, the seventh time this season Maryland, the ACC's leading shot-blocking team, registered double-digit blocks. Garrison, Caner-Medley and Fofana each had three rejections to pace the defensive effort.

* Wake hit 13-of-23 three-pointers for the game, which ties the most treys made by a Maryland opponent this season (13 by Gonzaga on Dec. 6 and 13 by West Virginia on Dec. 7).