GREENSBORO -- The Maryland Terrapins (19-11) denied the men's basketball team's bid at winning its sixth consecutive ACC tournament by defeating Duke (27-5) 95-87 in a pressure-packed overtime conclusion to the most competitive tournament in recent memory.
Maryland downed the No. 3, No. 2 and No. 1 seeds of the tournament before cutting down the nets, as the sixth-seeded Terrapins defeated Wake Forest 87-86 in the first round, turned a 19-point halftime deficit to N.C. State into a 85-82 win in the semifinals, and beat the regular season's top team after trailing by 12 points with 4:58 remaining.
"Maryland needs to be congratulated," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "What amazing heart those kids showed throughout the weekend. They never allowed themselves to get beat in any of the three games."
Although he has won nearly every coaching award possible and led the 2002 Terrapins to the National Championship, the three wins gave head coach Gary Williams his first conference tournament championship. The win over the Blue Devils gave Maryland its first tournament championship since 1984, only the third in school history.
"I would say the last 10 years we have had some pretty good teams," Williams said. "I didn't expect it this year, to be honest. This kind of makes up for a lot of things that happened to us in the ACC tournament [in the past]."
Sophomore guard John Gilchrist won the tournament's Most Valuable Player Award for the Terrapins after putting on one of the greatest performances in tournament history. The Virginia Beach native had 16 points against the Demon Deacons, including the game winning free-throw. Gilchrist pumped in 30 points against the Wolfpack, 23 of which occurred in the second half of Maryland's improbable comeback; and the point guard had 26 against Duke, including a three-point play with 19 seconds left that tied the game.
"I never doubted this team from day one," Gilchrist said. "You're going to go through ups and downs, so you're going to have to bring it every single night. 'For the team' that's our motto."
After a rough-and-tumble first half that saw All-ACC first-teamer Chris Duhon sent to the locker room writhing in pain after smashing into a court-side camera and an inspired Maryland team take a two-point lead at the game's mid-point, Duke seemed poised to grab its sixth consecutive ACC title by smoothly operating its plans en route to a 74-62 lead with 4:58 remaining. After the Duhon lay up that gave Duke its biggest lead of the second half, many fans headed towards the exits, assuming the Blue Devils had the win in hand. But for Maryland, the game had only just begun.
Playing vigorous defense against Duke's delay offense, Maryland held the Blue Devils scoreless for 4:17 until Chris Duhon went 1-for-2 from the free-throw line to make the score 74-70. The Terrapins' Mike Jones then nailed a three-pointer on the next possession, putting extra pressure on Luol Deng, who was at the line after being purposely fouled. Deng nailed both shots, giving Duke a precarious 77-74 lead with 27 seconds remaining. Instead of settling for a three-point attempt on the next possession, Gilchrist used a screen by Jamar Smith to drive to the basket, where he was bumped by Shelden Williams before converting a shot off the glass. The foul was Williams' fifth, and he was the first of four Blue Devils to foul out of the game.
"[Coach] said we were going to run a screen-and-roll," Gilchrist said. "I saw the clear lane. They switched out Shelden [Williams] and I said 'Hey, I can beat this guy,' so I just went to the rack as hard as I could and luckily he bumped me."
J.J. Redick had a chance to win the game for the Blue Devils at the end of regulation, but after his shot fake gave the sophomore a wide-open look from behind the arc, the Virginia native clanked the ball off the rim. The shooting guard struggled with his normally reliable jump shot throughout the tournament, going a combined 3-for-17 from behind the arc in the three games.
The overtime saw a more inspired Maryland team win the game at the free-throw line, as the worst shooting team from behind the charity stripe in the ACC went 14-for-20 in the extra period. In contrast, Duke went only 3-for-5. Duke started the overtime with a two-point lead, but had few bright spots from that point on. Duhon nailed a three-pointer to tie the game with 1:47 remaining, but the Blue Devils would never take the lead. Through emboldened play from their captain--Duhon scored 8 of his 21 points in the tie-breaking period--Duke was able to cut the Terrapins' lead to 90-87 with 30 seconds remaining. Trailing by only a three-pointer, Duhon swung the ball to a wide open Ewing, who was spotting up behind the arc. But the junior guard, who was last year's tournament MVP, bricked the ball off the back of the rim, and the Terrapins' improbable victory was secured.
The loss left the Blue Devils' national standing virtually unaffected, as Krzyzewski's team still landed a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Maryland, which was considered a bubble team just a week ago, received a No. 4 seed.
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