Maryland Athletics - University of Maryland Official Athletic Site - Events
4/9/2013 8:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 12, 1997
Laron Profit Leads Terps Over Wolfpack
RALEIGH, N.C. - Laron Profit scored 15 points to lead a balanced attack, powering 19th-ranked Maryland to a 68-59 Atlantic Coast Conference victory at North Carolina State.
Keith Booth, Terrell Stokes and Obinna Ekezie added 14 apiece for the Terrapins (14-1, 4-0 ACC), who, along with second-ranked Wake Forest and fifth-ranked Clemson, remained unbeaten in conference play. Maryland has won three straight games since its lone loss to Georgia and is off to the best start in school history.
The 4-0 start in ACC play equals the Terrapins' best ever, established in the 1974-75 season. Maryland won the conference title that season with a 10-2 mark.
Clint Harrison scored 16 points for North Carolina State (8-4, 0-3), which has lost five straight games to Maryland. The Wolfpack has failed to score 60 points in any of their ACC games.
The Wolfpack still lead the all-time series, 66-52, but were denied in their bid to become the 23rd school in NCAA history to win 1,300 games.
North Carolina State took its only lead of the game at 42-41 with 9:12 to play on a layup by Jeremy Hyatt that capped a 10-2 burst. But Maryland's defense tightened, not allowing a basket over the next 5:06 during an 11-1 tear.
Matt Kovarik had a basket before the Wolfpack's Ishua Benjamin made a free throw to forge a 43-43 tie at the 8:38 mark. Profit had a basket before Ekezie dunked to make it 47-43 with 7:37 to play. Booth had a steal and layup, then capped the burst with a three-point play, giving Maryland a 52-43 lead with 5:09 to go.
The Terps made 8-of-10 free throws in the final 94 seconds to preserve the victory. Maryland has won four games in a row on "Tobacco Road" -- at Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State -- for the first time since the end of the 1973-74 season through the 1975-76 season.
Ekenzie dominated the first half, making all six of his shots from the field as Maryland took a 27-17 lead at halftime. The Wolfpack made just 6-of-24 shots in the first half, going scoreless over the final 3:53.
Maryland made 14-of-22 shots in the second half and 54 percent (26-of-48) overall. Hyatt finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Wolfpack, who shot only 37 percent (23-of-62) -- their best performance in an ACC game -- including a woeful 5-of-25 from three-point range.
MARYLAND (68)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Profit 31 7-9 1-4 0-3 1 4 15
Stokes 34 3-5 7-9 0-2 1 2 14
Jasikevicius 24 1-6 0-0 1-4 5 3 2
Booth 35 4-12 6-7 1-10 3 2 14
Ekezie 30 7-8 0-0 2-4 2 2 14
Elliott 23 3-6 1-2 2-7 1 1 7
Kovarik 23 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 0 2
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TOTALS 200 26-48 15-22 7-32 16 14 68
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Percentages: FG-.542, FT-.682. 3-Point Goals:
1-7, .143 (Stokes 1-3, Jasikevicius 0-3, Elliott
0-1). Team rebounds: 34. Blocked shots: 2 (Ekezie
2). Turnovers: 20 (Stokes 6, Profit 5, Ekezie 4,
Booth 2, Elliott, Jasikevicius, Kovarik). Steals:
12 (Profit 3, Stokes 3, Jasikevicius 2, Booth,
Ekezie, Elliott, Kovarik).
NO CAROLINA ST (59)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Strong 35 3-12 2-2 3-9 1 4 8
Hyatt 38 6-10 1-3 4-10 4 3 15
Thornton 31 2-6 0-0 1-4 1 5 4
Benjamin 38 5-15 2-3 0-1 1 5 14
Harrison 40 6-13 3-4 0-2 2 0 16
Gainey 10 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Wells 4 1-3 0-0 1-1 0 0 2
Mccullum 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 23-62 8-12 9-27 9 17 59
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Percentages: FG-.371, FT-.667. 3-Point Goals:
5-25, .200 (Strong 0-3, Hyatt 2-4, Thornton 0-1,
Benjamin 2-10, Harrison 1-4, Gainey 0-1, Wells
0-1, Mccullum 0-1). Team rebounds: 31. Blocked
shots: 3 (Thornton 2, Wells). Turnovers: 15
(Thornton 5, Mccullum 3, Benjamin 2, Gainey 2,
Hyatt 2, Strong). Steals: 11 (Harrison 4, Hyatt
2, Strong 2, Benjamin, Gainey, Mccullum).
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Maryland 27 41 - 68
No Carolina St 17 42 - 59
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Technical fouls: None. A: 11,700. Officials:
Larry Rose, Duke Edsall, Andre Patillo.
