Feb. 5, 1997
Terps Rebound With Victory Over North Carolina State
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Keith Booth had 21 points and nine rebounds and Laron
Profit added 20 points and six steals, leading seventh-ranked Maryland to a
66-55 Atlantic Coast Conference victory over North Carolina State.
Obinna Ekezie chipped in 11 points and six rebounds for Maryland (18-4, 7-3
ACC), which rebounded from back-to-back conference losses to Florida State and
Wake Forest to sweep the season series from the Wolfpack. The Terrapins have
won the last six meetings.
"We played differently in terms of possession basketball, we had to guard
against being lulled to sleep by N.C. State's slowdown," Maryland coach Gary
Williams said. "They could've hit the three at anytime. We talked about
controlling the tempo of the game and getting things into transition.
"After two losses, we had to assert ourselves. Now that this game is over, we
think it was one of the biggest games of the year. Keith Booth sparked us with
his defense in the second half, everyone enjoys the attention, but it is harder
when the media is looking at you so close."
Danny Strong scored 19 points, Jeremy Hyatt added 12 and Damon Thornton
contributed 10 and 13 rebounds for North Carolina State (9-10, 1-9), which has
lost seven of its last eight games.
"Our team has showed a lot of maturity throughout the season," N.C. State coach
Herb Sendek said. "We have had some gut-wrenching losses and still had the
ability to maintain a level keel. Our win on Saturday didn't really affect us
either way coming in here tonight. We practiced the press the last couple of
days in practice. I tell you, it looked a lot better in practice than it did
tonight."
Hyatt's driving layup with 10:12 remaining pulled the Wolfpack within 44-39, but
Booth's alley-oop and a three-point play from Profit around a jumper by Ishua
Benjamin gave Maryland a 49-41 advantage with 8:50 to go. Booth stole an
inbounds pass and hit a layup and Ekezie sank a pair of free throws, making it
53-41 with 8:14 to play.
"Our job was to mentally prepare for it (tonight's game), and we have to take it
one game at a time," Booth said. "We did a good job of that today."
Hyatt's three-pointer closed N.C State within 60-51 with 3:26 left, but Booth
converted a layup and Terrell Stokes made two free throws, sealing the victory.
The Terps shot 24-of-49 (49 percent) from the field and limited the Wolfpack to
40 percent (21-of-52).
Maryland held a 10-9 edge early in the first half before reeling off 10 straight
points for a 20-9 bulge with 11:01 left. Strong hit consecutive three-pointers
to get the Wolfpack back in it at 22-17. The Terps settled for a 29-23 lead at
halftime.
NO CAROLINA ST (55)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Strong 38 6-10 2-4 1-4 1 3 19
Thornton 38 4-10 2-2 5-13 3 4 10
Benjamin 30 4-10 0-0 1-3 2 4 8
Gainey 28 1-3 1-4 0-2 2 5 4
Hyatt 37 5-12 0-0 0-6 3 5 12
Harrison 24 1-5 0-0 0-1 0 2 2
Norton 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Wells 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Sutton 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 21-52 5-10 7-29 11 24 55
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.404, FT-.500. 3-Point Goals:
8-16, .500 (Strong 5-6, Benjamin 0-1, Gainey 1-2,
Hyatt 2-4, Harrison 0-1, Wells 0-1, Sutton 0-1).
Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 1 (Strong).
Turnovers: 21 (Benjamin 5, Strong 5, Thornton 5,
Hyatt 3, Norton 2, Harrison). Steals: 5 (Benjamin
2, Thornton 2, Strong).
MARYLAND (66)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Profit 39 8-13 2-3 1-3 1 1 20
Booth 38 8-13 5-7 1-9 3 3 21
Ekezie 27 3-4 5-9 0-6 0 3 11
Stokes 35 1-6 2-4 0-0 5 3 4
Jasikevicius 28 2-6 1-2 1-4 5 2 5
Elliott 20 1-4 1-2 4-7 2 2 3
Kovarik 9 1-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 2
Watkins 4 0-2 0-1 0-2 0 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 24-49 16-28 7-32 16 14 66
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.490, FT-.571. 3-Point Goals:
2-13, .154 (Profit 2-4, Stokes 0-5, Jasikevicius
0-3, Elliott 0-1). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked
shots: 6 (Jasikevicius 2, Watkins 2, Elliott,
Ekezie). Turnovers: 13 (Booth 4, Jasikevicius 4,
Ekezie 3, Stokes 2). Steals: 12 (Profit 6, Booth
3, Elliott 2, Ekezie).
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No Carolina St 23 32 - 55
Maryland 29 37 - 66
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Technical fouls: None. A: 14,500. Officials:
Larry Rose, Dave Elliott, Duke Edsall.
