Lettere d'Italia: Day 10
8/26/2004 8:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Aug. 26, 2004
VARESE, Italy - Italian Basketball-Maryland Basketball Fact of the Day: Former Terrapin Ryan "Sleepy" Randle, a member of Maryland's 2002 national championship basketball team, was acquired by the Varese Roosters two weeks ago. He has been training with his new A1 league squad ever since, living in the town of Varese outside of Milan. Randle scored five points with five rebounds for his new squad on Thursday against the Terps, playing limited minutes after taking a spill during the first half (he would end up o.k., don't worry). Randle was a third team ACC selection as a senior in 2003, averaging 12.7 points and 7.2 rebounds and helping his team to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. It was almost an Italian-style comeback similar to the Terps' now-famous ACC semifinal game against NC State, but it just wasn't. Once again, the young Terrapins found themselves down by as many as 21 in the first half, and 18 at halftime. And once again, the Terps fought furiously to get themselves back into the game. Once again the Terps' competitive spirit and "refuse to lose" attitude was put on display, and that sprit shined brightly. Only this time the Terps came up just short. The Pala Ingris in Varese, Italy, was absolutely rockin' tonight as nearly 5,000 raucous spectators sang, chanted, cheered, beat drums and fired air horns during a thrilling contest. The Roosters (whose mascot is actually an elephant) comprise one of the top A1 professional squads in all of Italy, and they took control of their home court early. Varese raced out to a 15-6 lead midway through the first quarter and fended off a Maryland second-quarter rally to lead 63-45 at halftime. Varese, which features former American college players Norman Nolan from Baltimore, Md., by way of Virginia, Dan Callahan from Northeastern, and the Terps' own Ryan "Sleepy" Randle, led by as many as 21 in the first quarter. Randle, who laughed with his former teammates and coach before the game, came off the bench and scored on the first shot he took. He finished with five points and five boards in 14 minutes. Much like in the Terps' come-from-behind win over NC State last March, Maryland looked almost like a completely different squad in the second half. The Terps opened the third period with a 17-5 run, outscoring the Roosters 32-14 in the quarter. Rising junior Travis Garrison, who led the Terps with a game-high 27 points and 13 rebounds in the contest, scored 12 points in the third to key the charge. A pair of John Gilchrist (16 points, eight rebounds, six assists) free throws tied the game at 73 with 1:04 to play in the third, and the squads traded free throws and buckets to knot the contest at 77 headed into the final 10 minutes. The Terps stayed hot in the fourth quarter, amassing an 86-80 lead after a Chris McCray bucket with 7:32 to play, but Varese responded with eight unanswered points. McCray scored 10 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, to go along with six rebounds, four assists and four steals. For the next four and a half minutes the Terps and Roosters traded baskets, until a Nolan 3-point play pulled Varese ahead, 100-99, with 58 seconds to go. After the Terps failed to convert, Varese's Marco Allegretti nailed a 3-pointer from the corner to make it 103-99. On their next possession, Nolan, who finished the contest with a team-high 24 points, made 1-of-2 free throws to put Varese up 104-99. Trailing by five, McCray drew a foul on a 3-point attempt and sank all three attempts, but Varese held on for the 104-102 win. The Terps put forth as tough of a second-half performance as anyone could have asked for, but just didn't have enough magic tonight as they concluded their Italian Tour record with a 3-2 record. Earlier in the day the Terps had used the morning to go shopping in the lake town of Como, and tomorrow some will travel to picturesque Bellagio on their final day in Italia. A domani! Ciao!
