Postgame Notes: Maryland 93, Clemson 97

Feb. 22, 2005

The Maryland basketball team fell to the Clemson Tigers Tuesday night in College Park, 97-93, dropping the Terps to 16-9 overall and 7-7 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, where they currently sit tied with Miami and Georgia Tech for fifth place. The win is Clemson's first over the Terps in College Park in its last eight tries. Maryland holds an 84-44 series advantage over the Tigers, but has lost both meetings this season. The Terps fall to 12-2 this season at Comcast Center, where they host the North Carolina Tar Heels in an important conference matchup Sunday evening.

Junior forward Nik Caner-Medley scored 23 points tonight, leaving him just four points shy of the 1,000-point mark for his career. Classmate John Gilchrist is approaching the milestone, as well. After netting 12 points tonight he stands only six short of the 1,000-point plateau. Caner-Medley and Gilchrist, who have teamed up to win 57 games since arriving in College Park in 2002, are vying to become the 40th and 41st Terps to amass 1,000 points in their careers. Former Terp great Juan Dixon (1999-2002), is currently the school's all-time leading scorer with 2,269 career points.

Clemson raced out to a quick 16-4 lead with 15:23 to go in the opening half. Sam Perry and James Mays scored four apiece and Shawan Robinson and Olu Babalola each added three for the Tigers, who made seven of their first 11 field goal attempts.

After trailing by as many as 15 in the first, Maryland clawed back to draw to within five with 4:10 remaining on a turnaround jumper by forward Travis Garrison. At halftime, Clemson held a 49-39 advantage. Garrison lead Maryland with 11 points and four rebounds at the break, followed by shooting guard Chris McCray who contributed 10. Perry and Robinson paced Clemson with eights points each.

With 13:47 to play, the Terps closed to 58-54. After following his own shot on the offensive glass, Caner-Medley scored on a putback, bringing the Comcast Center crowd to its feet and forcing Clemson to call a timeout. After being held to four points in the first half, Caner-Medley chipped in 19 in the second for a game total of 23. It marked the 12th time this season he has lead the Terps in scoring, and third in the last five games.

Down 11 at 86-75, the Terps began to engineer a comeback with 2:58 to play. Caner-Medley, Gilchrist, sophomore Mike Jones and Garrison all scored as Maryland closed to 89-85 with 1:44 on the clock. But Garrison fouled out with a minute to go and Clemson hit enough of its free-throws down the stretch to pull away for good.

McCray continued his aggressive play on offense, scoring 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting. Over his last six games, McCray is averaging 16.7 points

With 12 points and 10 rebounds, Gilchrist posted his fifth career double-double and third in his last fives games. He also added a team-high five assists.

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