Defense keys Maryland win

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Posted 5:17AM on Monday, February 9, 2004

COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND - Desperate to end a rare losing streak at home against a team that rarely wins on the road, Maryland turned to its defense to get a much-needed victory. Jamar Smith had 16 points and 14 rebounds, and the Terrapins received a strong performance from Chris McCray on both ends of the floor in rolling past Florida State 73-62 Sunday. Nik Caner-Medley scored 14 points and D.J. Strawberry had 12 for the Terrapins, who are counting on a strong finish in the regular season to earn an 11th straight bid to the NCAA tournament. The push began Wednesday with a win at Virginia and continued against the Seminoles, who beat the Terrapins at home in December. The key this time was a defense that shut down FSU guard Tim Pickett in the second half and limited the Seminoles to 6-for-27 shooting over the final 20 minutes. McCray did the brunt of the work on Pickett, who scored 18 in the first half but was limited to two points after halftime. ``Those 18 points, I put all that on me,'' McCray said. ``I wanted to come back in the second half and defend most of his shots. I think we wore him down.'' Maryland guard John Gilchrist gave much of the credit to McCray, noting, ``Chris did a heck of a job just chasing him around. I was awed by his effort tonight.'' Battling foul trouble and the aggressive McCray, Pickett missed all four of his field-goal attempts after halftime. ``They did a good job not letting me get shots in the second half,'' Pickett said. ``They got the momentum and stole one from us.'' The victory ended Maryland's first two-game losing streak at home since 1993. Florida State has lost 20 straight Atlantic Coast Conference games on the road. ``Maryland did a good job of making us work for everything in the second half,'' FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. ``It was amazing we were in striking distance late when we hadn't played that well.'' Florida State trailed by only four points until McCray made two free throws with 52 seconds left. McCray then stole a pass, was fouled intentionally and added another foul shot to make it 69-62. ``We had to get back on track on our home court,'' McCray said. It was the ninth double-double of the season for Smith, the Terrapins' lone senior. Gilchrist scored 11, including four free throws in the final minute, and McCray added 10 for Maryland (13-7, 4-5). Von Wafer scored 15 for Florida State (16-7, 4-5). The Seminoles missed their first seven shots of the second half and fell behind 43-38. Michael Joiner ended the drought with a 3-pointer, but Florida State missed its next seven field-goal tries before a dunk by Alexander Johnson cut Maryland's lead to 52-47. McCray then scored five straight points, including a three-point play. Pickett picked up his fourth foul on the drive and spent the next two minutes on the bench. ``Being in foul trouble made my game slow down a lot,'' Pickett said. I had to be a little conservative after the fourth foul.'' The Seminoles ran off an 8-3 spurt without him, closing to 60-55 on a 3-pointer by Wafer. Caner-Medley then hit a 3-pointer to help Maryland build the lead to 66-57, and the Terrapins held on. Maryland led 39-38 at halftime despite a 7-for-9 shooting performance by Pickett including 4-for-4 from 3-point range. Pickett scored 10 points in the opening eight minutes to help the Seminoles take a 19-15 lead. It was 24-22 before Maryland freshman Mike Jones made a 3-pointer and Smith hit a fadeaway jumper to ignite a 10-0 run that put the Terrapins up by eight. Wafer scored the Seminoles' next nine points to keep it close.