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Friday, Mar. 10 2:00pm ET
FSU proves no match for Maryland | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- An early flurry produced some familiar results for Maryland and Florida State. Lonny Baxter and Juan Dixon powered a 16-5 run by Maryland (No. 19 ESPN/USA Today, No. 20 AP) to open the game, sending the Terrapins to an 82-61 victory over the worn-out Seminoles in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament Friday. It was Maryland's ninth consecutive victory over Florida State, and it put the Terrapins into the ACC semifinals for the sixth consecutive year. "We want to win the tournament. We don't have a lot of ACC championships at Maryland," said coach Gary Williams, whose Terrapins are seeking the school's third league title but first since 1984. After getting a bye in Thursday's opening round, second-seeded Maryland (23-8) looked well-rested Friday in pushing its lead as high as 32 points. The seventh-seeded Seminoles (12-17) showed all the signs of fatigue that might be expected from a team that struggled less than 17 hours earlier in a 63-62 victory over Georgia Tech. "It was a big advantage for us to be able to sit and watch while Florida State played a very tough game," Williams said. "We felt that if it was an up-tempo game today, given they fact that they didn't have much of a chance to rest and we did, it would be to our advantage." Florida State never led, shot 40 percent and had 21 turnovers that the Terrapins converted into 29 points. "As much as you try to say that we'll fight through it and that it's all mental, there comes a point where there is a little bit of fatigue that sets in," said reserve guard Matt Chlebek, whose 11 points made him the only player in double figures for Florida State. "They just out-executed us. Fatigue had something to do with it, but I'd say Maryland had more to do with it." Baxter had 24 points and 10 rebounds, and Dixon had 12 points, eight assists and three steals. The Terrapins also got 17 points from Terence Morris. Maryland was credited with assists on 25 of its 33 field goals. "We tend to play better when we're passing the ball to each other a lot, making extra passes," Morris said. "It makes the games fun and it makes us play a lot harder." Maryland set the tone from the outset by hitting seven of its first eight field-goal attempts. Baxter hit all five of his shots, none from outside 6 feet, to put the Terrapins up by 11. The Terrapins' superior ball movement resulted in seven assists on their first eight baskets, including four by Dixon. The best Florida State could do was cut its deficit to seven points before the Terrapins began pulling away, stretching their lead to 19 by halftime. Things got so bad for the Seminoles that, less than two minutes into the second half, a frustrated coach Steve Robinson pulled all five of his starters. Robinson replaced them with a group averaging less than 11 points combined, and when his starters arrived on the sideline, he walked to the far end of the bench to avoid even making eye contact with them. "I wanted a little bit more effort," Robinson said of his personnel move. "I just decided I needed to try to bring in another group and hopefully they could get something started and maybe it would jump-start the first group. Heck, it wasn't working. You've got to change something." Florida State, down 21 at the time of Robinson's move, fell behind by 26 before Robinson put his starters back on the floor. The Seminoles got no closer than 19 the rest of the way, dropping Robinson to 0-8 against Maryland. | ALSO SEE Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
AUDIO/VIDEO   Lonny Baxter takes it to the Seminole defense.avi: 917 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Steven Blake feeds Juan Dixon with the sweet pass on the break.avi: 925 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||