Sports: Terps thrash Seminoles

Terps thrash Seminoles

By BRIAN LANDMAN, Times Staff Writer

TALLAHASSEE -- For Florida State this season, location has meant almost everything.

While the Seminoles struggled on the road, they have been tougher at the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center. Maryland coach Gary Williams made sure his No. 2-ranked Terrapins respected the team that owned home wins over then-No.1 Duke and No.22 Virginia.

"They've played really good basketball here," Williams said. "So we took this game very seriously."

Funny, but Wednesday's game didn't turn on location.

The Terps, buoyed by an early 22-4 run, handed FSU its worst loss of the season, 96-63, before 6,461.

With their 11th consecutive victory, the Terps (24-3, 14-1) secured at least a share of the ACC regular-season title and will go for their first outright title since 1980 in their regular-season finale against visiting Virginia on Sunday. That will be the final game to be played at Cole Field House.

Meanwhile, the Seminoles (11-15, 4-11) dropped into a tie with North Carolina for eighth in the league with each having one regular-season game left -- FSU against visiting Georgia Tech on Saturday and UNC at No.3 Duke on Sunday.

FSU could find itself in the ACC tournament play-in game or, at best, the seventh seed against, in all likelihood, the Blue Devils.

At this point, anyone would be better than the Terps.

Anywhere.

"There's not a lot you can really say other than the fact that we played an outstanding basketball team," said coach Steve Robinson, whose Seminoles have lost nine of 11. "They're as good as advertised, and they could be playing as well as anybody in the country. The way they played (Wednesday) sure convinced me they're playing as well as anybody."

If FSU's crowd was going to play a role, it did not receive the proper cue.

After Monte Cummings' short jumper gave FSU its only lead at 7-6 with 16:36 left, the Terps took control. Lonny Baxter scored eight and Drew Nicholas and Steve Blake hit 3-pointers against FSU's zone defense to spark a 22-4 run during the next 7:04. Maryland led 48-29 at halftime. "It was 8-7 at the time, and I wasn't particularly happy. But we had a chance in that TV timeout to really talk and understand that we had to go take the game if we were going to win the game," Williams said. "We came out there and worked harder defensively. And we shot it well." The Seminoles lent a hand on both counts. "We shot the ball quickly, and I tried to get our guys to understand that if we brought it down and just pulled up and took a jump shot from the outside, then it would lead to transition going the other way," Robinson said. "That's exactly what happened."

Juan Dixon scored a game-high 25 for Maryland, which also got 15 from Nicholas, 12 from Byron Mouton and 10 from Calvin McCall, a former Orlando Dr. Phillips star. Cummings led FSU with 17 points, and Nigel Dixon added 15 and a game-high 10 rebounds.

GA. TECH 90, NO. 24 WAKE 77: B.J. Elder scored 23 of his career-high 25 points in the second half for the host Yellow Jackets. Elder's total was the most by a freshman in the ACC this season. He had eight during a two-minute stretch early in the second half to give Wake the lead for good at 50-48 and scored nine over the final 3:28.

NORTH CAROLINA 96, CLEMSON 78: Jason Capel scored a career-high 28 as the Tar Heels improved to 48-0 at home against the Tigers. Clemson will finish at least tied for last in the ACC for the third consecutive season. The Tar Heels led 48-40 at halftime then opened the second with a 19-4 run.