Jan. 26, 2010

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COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - Alone atop the Atlantic Coast Conference and riding a four-game winning streak, Maryland is gathering momentum and leaving believers in its wake.

The Terrapins made a huge impression on Miami coach Frank Haith during an 81-59 rout Tuesday night.

"There's no question they have the ability. The one thing about Maryland that I appreciate as a coach is that they play very well together as a team," Haith said. "They're a very cohesive unit right now. If they can keep that up, they very well could be one of the better teams in our league. There's no doubt about that."

Greivis Vasquez and Landon Milbourne each scored 16 points, and Maryland pounced on Miami at the outset. The Terrapins (14-5, 4-1) scored the game's first six points, increased the margin to 21 just before halftime and cruised to the finish.

The victory pushed the surprising Terrapins a half-game ahead of Virginia in the ACC.

"Our confidence is real high. We're playing well," guard Eric Hayes said. "We usually are in the hole in the ACC - under .500 early in the year and have to win a couple of games in a row at the end of the year. We just want to keep playing as well as we can and keep winning as many games as we can early so we don't have to worry about that come March."

It's way too early to begin thinking about grabbing a high seed in the ACC tournament, but it's not too soon to display a measure of consistency.

"I just want to keep playing well," coach Gary Williams said. "I think that's the key in the league this year _ not have the letdowns and play well. You're going to lose games. Everybody's losing games."

Especially last-place Miami (15-5, 1-5). The Hurricanes have dropped four straight since breaking into the Top 25 following their best start in 50 years.

Against Maryland, they committed 14 turnovers in the decisive first half and finished with only five assists.

"We didn't have a lot of fight in us tonight. I thought our effort was poor," said Haith, who spent nearly a half-hour addressing his team after the final buzzer.

"I'm just real disappointed in our effort and how we played. We've got some things we've got to fix within our team," he said. "Right now, we're not competitive. This team is worse than it was at the beginning of the year. We're going in the wrong direction."

Durand Scott scored 13 for the Hurricanes, who trailed by as many as 32 points in the second half.

"It's amazing because this club has practiced hard. For whatever reason, we're not doing it in the game," Haith said. "We're not as aggressive and we're not playing as passionate as we need to play."

The Terrapins, conversely, exchanged chest-bumps and high-fives throughout the game. Combined with an 88-64 win over North Carolina State on Saturday, Maryland has recorded successive 20-point victories in the conference for the first time since February 2003.

"Last year we struggled closing out games," said Sean Mosley, who scored 10. "We lost 20-point, 17-point leads last year. I think we did a great job this year focusing on coming out strong and finishing the game the same way."

Maryland led 53-37 before Mosley scored on a drive and added a layup to begin a 14-2 run that made it 65-39 with 12 minutes left. Adrian Bowie also had five points in the surge.

It was 76-44 with just under 8 minutes remaining.

Miami started miserably, committing seven turnovers in the opening 7 minutes and going 1 for 4 from the floor in falling behind 12-2. Haith finally called a timeout after Vasquez stole a pass in the backcourt and took it in for a dunk.

After Miami closed to 24-17, Bowie scored on a drive before three-point plays by Mosley and Jordan Williams boosted the margin to 15. Minutes later, Milbourne tallied seven points and Vasquez connected from beyond the arc in a 10-2 spurt that made it 45-24.