Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 13, 1994 TAG: 9403120159
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Long
An NCAA Tournament bid that seemed so remote in December came closer to reality for Virginia after one of its most startling turnarounds of the basketball season.
After shooting 23.5 percent in the first half, the Cavaliers hit 60 percent of their field-goal attempts after halftime Friday to rally for a 69-63 victory over Maryland in the ACC tournament.
The Cavaliers got 38 points from freshman guards Harold Deane and Jamal Robinson in advancing to an ACC semifinal for the fourth time in five years and the sixth time since 1986.
"Our freshmen played big; they played like vets today," said UVa junior Jason Williford. "I hope they continue that and the rest of us can get our acts together."
The Cavaliers (16-11) have a formidable semifinal opponent at 1:30 p.m. today in fifth-ranked Duke, a 77-64 winner over Clemson. The Blue Devils (23-4) beat UVa convincingly in both regular-season meetings, including an 84-54 rout in Durham.
Virginia's victory over Maryland avenged a 70-68 setback six days earlier in College Park, Md., where students rushed the floor in celebration of an apparent NCAA bid.
The situation doesn't look as rosy now for the Terrapins (16-11). Maryland finished in a tie with Virginia for fourth place in the ACC during the regular season.
"I'd be crushed if we weren't [invited]," said Jeff Jones, UVa's coach. "To finish .500 in the conference and have the fifth-toughest schedule in the country [according to the Ratings Percentage Index rankings] . . . now that we've gotten to that magic number of 16, I can't see how we wouldn't be included."
The Cavaliers didn't seem worthy of an invitation anywhere after a first half in which they had exactly one field goal that was not the result of a fast break or offensive rebound.
Virginia also committed 14 turnovers in the half, but somehow trailed only 23-21 because Maryland shot 26.7 percent from the field. Each team had eight field goals.
"It got so bad," Williford said, "that Exree Hipp [one of Maryland's forwards] turned to me at one point and said, `Hey, Jay, what's up with the score? This is ugly.' "
Maryland stretched its lead to 32-25 early in the second half, but the Cavaliers are no strangers to late-game comebacks. They have trailed in the second half in eight of their 16 victories.
"The assistant coaches reminded me we were two down at the half, we had the ball and we were playing hard," Jones said. "They wanted me to relax, [but] I wanted to yell a little bit, let 'em know it wasn't OK to play the way we did."
Jones was joined by senior co-captain Cornel Parker, "who was more vocal than I've ever seen him," Williford said. "That's really unusual for him. Cornel really wanted this."
Parker was a steadying influence, with seven points, eight rebounds and seven assists, but UVa couldn't have won without the freshmen. They combined for 29 points in the second half, 10 in a row by Deane as UVa turned a four-point deficit into a 44-40 lead.
Deane's 10-spurt occurred during a 1-minute, 52-second stretch while Maryland center Joe Smith, a first-team All-ACC selection and the conference's rookie of the year, was out of the game.
Smith left the game twice with an injured left wrist, but he scored 14 of his game-high 25 points after he returned to the game for the final time with 11:50 remaining.
"Joe got beat up pretty badly," said Gary Williams, Maryland's coach. "I was pleased by the way he went to the free-throw line and made nine of 10. Joe is our best player and when he got hurt, we did not step up."
Smith finished 8-of-21 from the field and the Terrapins were 22-of-67 (32.8 percent) from the field. It was the 14th time this season that a UVa opponent has failed to shoot 40 percent.
"I wasn't concerned that our shots weren't going in because their shots weren't going in, either," said the Cavaliers' Junior Burrough. "But you add 14 turnovers to all those missed shots and you expect to be down by more than two."
Burrough was 4-of-5 in the second half, with his only miss on an ill-advised 3-pointer with UVa nursing a 62-59 lead. Deane and Robinson came to the rescue by draining four free throws in the final 1:08.
"At one point there," Williford said, "it was almost like, `Look, you guys got us here. We're going to you.' "
Deane, returning to the starting lineup after a three-game absence, finished with a season-high 22 points. Robinson, making his first start, matched his season high established in the March 5 game with Maryland.
"I like this changing around," said Jones, who benched junior Yuri Barnes for a minor violation of team policy. "I might change the lineup again [today] just for the hell of it."
by CNB