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Maryland rolls past No. 18 Florida State 77-68

Jan 11, 2010 - 1:35 AM By DAVID GINSBURG AP Sports Writer

COLLEGE PARK, Md.(AP) -- Maryland opened its Atlantic Coast Conference schedule in ideal fashion: with a solid home win over No. 18 Florida State.

The only thing that would have made the night better was more time to celebrate.

Greivis Vasquez scored 22 points, Eric Hayes had 17, and the Terrapins ended the Seminoles' seven-game winning streak with a 77-68 victory Sunday night.

"It's huge. It's a ranked team coming in here, and Florida State had beaten a lot of people," Hayes said. "We wanted to get off to a great start in the ACC, and I think we did a good job of doing that tonight."

The Terrapins (10-4, 1-0) are off Monday, then face Wake Forest on the road.

"It's a good win, a win we won't be able to enjoy because we have to be ready to play Tuesday," coach Gary Williams said. "We might be tired, but there won't be a letdown. This is one of 16 (ACC) games. There is no champagne in the locker room."

Maryland let a 16-point lead dwindle to 48-45 before Vasquez scored nine points in a 14-4 surge that made it 62-49 with 9 minutes left.

Then, after the Seminoles (13-3, 1-1) closed to 72-66, Vasquez drilled a 3-pointer with 2:23 remaining to all but seal the victory.

"Our team played Maryland basketball. That's why it feels good," Vasquez said. "We played the way we're supposed to play."

The Terrapins outrebounded the taller Seminoles 40-34 and shot 47 percent from the field - including 10 of 16 from 3-point range - against the nation's best defense in field goal percentage (33.7 percent).

"I don't think we really got the defensive plan down. Coaches told us exactly what they were going to do, and they did it," Seminoles guard Deividas Dulkys said. "We were just a split second late."

Vasquez scored 17 points after halftime on 6-of-10 shooting. He has at least 20 points in six straight games.

Chris Singleton had 12 points and 14 rebounds for Florida State, which played much of the second half without 6-foot-9 forward Ryan Reid, who injured his left ankle with 19:35 to go and didn't return until 7:56 was left.

Solomon Alabi scored 17 for the Seminoles despite missing a long stretch of the first half because of foul trouble.

After Florida State made the first two baskets of the second half to close to 41-31, Maryland's Landon Milbourne hit a jumper in the lane and Vasquez followed with a three-point play to increase the margin to 15.

It was 48-34 before Michael Snear hit a 3-pointer to spark an 11-0 Florida State run that included two baskets by Singleton.

That's when Vasquez took over.

"Greivis had some looks, and he was ready," Williams said.

Hayes and Milbourne each scored 11 points, and the Terrapins outrebounded Florida State 20-12 in going up 41-27 at halftime.

After scoring the Seminoles' first five points, Alabi picked up his second foul with 17:27 left in the first half and was forced to the bench. Florida State promptly went nearly 6 minutes without a field goal, allowing Maryland to turn a 5-4 deficit into a 17-8 lead.

Alabi returned with 9:41 to go and the Seminoles down 22-13. His presence was not immediately felt, as evidenced by a 10-3 spurt by the Terrapins that made it 37-23.

The gap expanded to 16 just before halftime.

"They were able to stick with their game plan for a full 40 minutes. We didn't," Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. "In the first half, we took the first shot opportunity that was available. We really hadn't been doing that. We'd been moving the ball to make the extra pass.

"That's a sign of a team that's still growing and learning and developing. I thought Maryland's consistency - with their execution - demonstrated a little more maturity than where we're at now."