March 16, 2005

Box Score |  Quotes |  Notes

By DAVID GINSBURG
AP Sports Writer

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - Maryland was sleepwalking through another lackluster performance when coach Gary Williams took out his frustration on the officiating crew.

The tirade earned him a well-deserved technical foul - and woke up the Terrapins.

Inspired by their coach's burst of emotion, Maryland rattled off 17 straight points and pulled away to an 85-72 victory over Oral Roberts on Wednesday night in the first round of the NIT.

Travis Garrison had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Mike Jones scored 18 to help Maryland snap a four-game losing streak. The Terrapins had gone nearly a month since their last win, at Virginia on Feb. 19.

"We haven't been happy in this locker room in a long time," Garrison said. "We really needed a win."

Will Bowers had a career-high 14 points for the Terrapins (17-12), whose late-season woes contributed heavily toward ending their run of 11 straight appearances in the NCAA tournament.

Playing in the NIT for the first time since 1990, Maryland fell behind by 13 in the first half before Williams was tagged with a technical foul.

"Sometimes you do whatever it takes to get the team fired up," Williams said. "It's part of coaching. I wasn't necessarily proud of it."

Jones and Mike Grinnon promptly hit successive 3-pointers, and Garrison added a dunk to ignite the 17-point blitz that made it 32-28. Six different players scored during the spree, which put the Terrapins ahead for good.

"When he got that technical," Jones said, "we all huddled up in the middle of the court and said, 'We've just got to go out there and have some fun. Let's play our kind of ball.' Then we went out there and did what we had to do."

Caleb Green had 23 points and 16 rebounds, and Ken Tutt scored 18 points on 5-for-27 shooting for Oral Roberts (25-8), making its first postseason appearance since 1997. The Golden Eagles went 3-for-21 from beyond the arc.

"We're not used to playing against this type of competition, or in this type of atmosphere," Green said.

Said Tutt: "I just take this as a great experience for us. We'll just learn from it for next year."

Oral Roberts closed to 59-57 midway through the second half before Jones scored seven points in a 9-2 spurt that made it 68-59, all but assuring Maryland a berth in the second round against either Davidson or Southwest Missouri State.

The Terrapins had a season-high 15 blocked shots and overcame 20 turnovers.

Maryland was without injured starting guard John Gilchrist (ankle), who leads the team in minutes and assists. He was replaced by Sterling Ledbetter, who had 10 points, nine rebounds and five assists in his first start of the season.

The game attracted 7,407 fans, far less than the 17,950 capacity. But those in attendance gave the Terrapins a boost after the Golden Eagles made it close.

"This was a great crowd," Williams said. "They were really noisy in the second half when we needed it."

The Terrapins led 8-7 before Mickey Michalec made a layup to start Oral Roberts on a 10-1 run. Maryland missed eight of 10 shots after Bowers' dunk off the opening tip, and many in the crowd began to jeer after the Golden Eagles increased their lead to 26-15.

Williams then received his technical foul, and Tutt made both shots to put Oral Roberts up by 13. The Eagles went the next five minutes without a point, missing 10 shots in the process.