March 17, 2007

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Press Conference

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - A.J. Graves scored 19 points to lift Butler to a 62-59 win over Maryland in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Butler (29-6), the No. 5 seed in the Midwest Regional, advances to St. Louis next week.

Mike Jones led Maryland with 21 points, while James Gist added 13 for the Terps.

"We had good looks in the first half and couldn't score," Gist said. "We knew we made some mistakes, and some of those mistakes cost us the game."

Butler never trailed after going up 39-36 on Drew Streicher's 3-point basket five minutes into the second half and hung on in a game Maryland rallied back to tie four times.

Brandon Crone scored with three minutes left to put the Bulldogs ahead 58-56. Then, after Maryland's Ekene Ibekwe missed a 6-footer, Graves hit a 3-pointer from the left corner.

After Strawberry hit one of two free throws to cut Butler's lead to 61-59, Maryland failed to get a shot off on its final two possessions. The game ended when Jones was unable to control Eric Hayes' inbounds just before the buzzer sounded.

The Bulldogs improved to 21-0 when they hold an opponent to 59 points or less. They did it with a stifling defense, forcing 17 Terrapins turnovers.

Maryland struggled in the first half, going 6:29 without scoring a field goal before Gist hit a reverse layup with 1:13 remaining. The Terps missed three attempts, committed four turnovers and hit 1-of-4 free throws during its drought.

Butler improved to 4-1 in NCAA tournament games under coach Todd Lickliter, and is in the midst of its fourth 20-win season in six years.

Maryland lost the opening game of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament to Miami and also endured a difficult midseason stretch in which it went 3-5 against league rivals.

"We had to work hard to make the tournament this year," coach Williams said. "This is really tough today."