FSU 79, NO. 24 MARYLAND 75: Florida State has the upperclassmen, but two freshmen help 'Noles get upper hand.
By ZACHARY SPAIN
Published December 29, 2003
TALLAHASSEE - Experience was on the side of Florida State when it opened its Atlantic Coast Conference schedule with a 79-75 victory over No. 24 Maryland on Sunday.
The Seminoles started three seniors and two juniors, while the underclassman-laden Terrapins started four sophomores and their only senior.
But it was two freshmen who propelled FSU (11-1, 1-0 ACC) on a second-half run that swallowed a Maryland lead and sent the Seminoles off the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center floor with a victory in a conference opener for the first time in four seasons.
Not bad for what was the biggest game in the young careers of forward Alexander Johnson and shooting guard Von Wafer. Johnson, who scored a game-high 14, said he approached his first ACC game no differently than any of his previous 11 collegiate games.
"I have butterflies before every game," Johnson said. "But when you get out there, I don't know what happens to them. As the ball is jumped up, everything just disappears."
After Maryland (7-3, 0-1) took its biggest lead at 56-51 midway through the second half, Johnson and Wafer combined to score 11 of Florida State's next 14 points and put the Seminoles ahead for good.
Nineteen seconds after forward Nik Caner-Medley - one of three Terps to finish with 13 points - gave Maryland the five-point advantage, Johnson scored on an inbound pass. After missing a three-point play opportunity, the 6-foot-10 Johnson stole the ball from Caner-Medley and was fouled as he reached halfcourt.
"Johnson's a good inside player," Maryland coach Gary Williams said.
"He's a great addition to their team."
On the ensuing possession, Wafer put back a Tim Pickett 3-point miss, closing the deficit to one with 9:19 left.
After a Maryland turnover, Johnson took a Pickett pass from the top of the key and finished with a rim-shaking, two-handed dunk that sent the Seminoles strutting.
"I thought the goal was going to break," said Pickett, who scored 13, all in the second half.
The dunk, which gave FSU a lead it didn't relinquish, appeared to sink the Terps, who had trailed 37-36 at halftime and by as many as 14 early in the first half.
Florida State went up 67-58 and then didn't let the Terps get within four.
"That was a huge play," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. "(It) seemed to give the team a lift. (It) excited the crowd."
Turnovers haunted Maryland throughout. The Terps forced 18 turnovers but had 24, which led to 29 FSU points.
"That's a joke. You can't win a close game with 24 turnovers," Williams said. "We didn't handle the ball well; we seemed to drop a lot of balls. We were tentative all day."
FSU took advantage of those miscues early, going ahead 18-4 within six minutes. Williams said that the energy used to mount the comeback made the Terrapins sluggish late in the game.
"We were pretty fortunate to be in there in the end, because of the way (the game) started," Williams said.
For Hamilton, the victory said a lot about a team that he says has not performed well at times, despite the best start in school history.
"First time this year where we put together a focus for 40 minutes," he said. "This is a big improvement over what we had been doing in some of our prior games against lesser opponents."
