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Miami gets past cold-shooting Maryland

Jan 11, 2007 - 6:31 AM COLLEGE PARK, Maryland (Ticker) -- It was not pretty but Anthony Harris and Miami overcame their recent struggles to post a big win.

Harris scored 15 points and hit some key free throws down the stretch to lead the Hurricanes to a 63-58 victory over No. 25 Maryland in an Atlantic Coast Conference encounter.

Harris was only 3-of-11 from the field and not many of his teammates fared any better as Miami (9-8, 2-1 ACC) shot 31 percent (19-of-61) from the field. Harris did make up for it at the line, making 9-of-10 including eight in the final 1:19.

"This was a great win for us, a hard-fought win," Miami coach Frank Haith said. "We had a lot of guys step up. Anthony Harris was great making his free throws. We didn't shoot the ball well but we found a way to grind out the win."

As bad as Miami was offensively, Maryland was even worse and lost its conference home opener for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.

The Terrapins (14-3, 0-2) got only seven points from leading scorer D.J. Strawberry, who was 1-of-8 from the field. Maryland finished 13-of-58 (22 percent) from the field and kept itself in the game by making 26-of-35 free throws.

"We took a lot of shots too quickly without being patient with the offense," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "We had nine assists, which is a pretty good indication right there."

Miami entered the game having lost four of its last five but controlled the boards behind Dwayne Collins and Brian Asbury.

Collins was one of the few players who shot well, as he made 6-of-9 from the field, had 14 points and added 12 rebounds. Asbury added seven points and 10 boards for the Hurricanes, who outrebounded the Terrapins, 55-41.

"I was so proud of how well we played defense," Haith said. "That has to be the identity of this team. I thought tonight we played outstanding defense."

Mike Jones scored 17 points and James Gist and Ekene Ibekwe each had 10 for Maryland, which shot 6-of-23 from the arc.

"We had a lot of shots that we should have made but sometimes games go like that," Ibekwe said. "I guess it was a lack of concentration."