Maryland vs Georgia Tech Basketball Recap

Maryland 76, Georgia Tech 74

After roughly two hours of mortal combat on the floor of the Comcast Center, it appeared that the Maryland Terrapins had experienced a stomach punch unlike any other, a cruel twist at the end of a pulse-pounding passion play.

Just a few moments later, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets were left reeling from the force of a devastating blow.

In one of the most remarkable endings to any basketball game, anywhere and anytime, Maryland stunned Georgia Tech in five of the wildest seconds a hoops junkie could possibly dream of. With March Madness still a few weeks away, the Terrapins jolted the Jackets in a first-rate episode of that other reality TV show, "February Frenzy." There's no other way to describe how this contest climaxed in College Park, Md.

With roughly five seconds left, Georgia Tech - trailing 73-72 - missed a 3-pointer from the left wing, but Yellow Jacket freshman Derrick Favors was there to put back the miss and give the visitors from Atlanta a 74-73 edge with three ticks left on the clock. Paul Hewitt's Tech team was about to rack up the road win it so desperately needed in order to feel safe about its chances on Selection Sunday.

But oh, the fun was just beginning.

Maryland inbounded the ball to its superstar, Greivis Vasquez, who - on this day - became just the sixth player in UM history to score 2,000 career points. The native of Venezuela took the ball about 55 feet from the hoop, split two Georgia Tech defenders, and launched a running 35-footer than banked its way into the bucket. The Comcast fans went crazy, and college basketball had just witnessed one of its signature shots of the year.

There was just one complication: Maryland assistant coach Keith Booth called a timeout before Vasquez released his accurate shot.

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The same building that had exploded just a short while earlier suddenly gasped and groaned in shock and bewilderment as the magnitude of the moment sank in. A star player hit the kind of shot that a star player makes, only for an assistant coach - not even head man Gary Williams - to wipe it away with a well-intentioned timeout. Maryland had just 1.1 seconds with which to operate, and most folks in the arena had to think that the Terps' apparent victory - suddenly revoked by an assistant coach - was not going to materialize.

How many teams throw down TWO improbable shots in the final three seconds of regulation?

How many teams could defy the basketball gods and overcome a basket-nullifying timeout at the very end of a 40-minute fight?

How many times does lightning strike twice in the same place... but only once on the scoreboard?

Well, Maryland is that kind of team, apparently, and Saturday afternoon marked an occasion when a bolt from the blue landed on the same piece of Atlantic Seaboard real estate.

In a play that mirrored one of Georgia Tech's greatest basketball moments - the James Forrest 3-pointer that defeated USC in the second round of the 1992 NCAA Tournament - Maryland's Cliff Tucker flowed to the left wing and, without dribbling, launched a 24-footer that tickled twine at the buzzer. The Terps dashed around the court like maniacs, and rightly so, because they had defied all the odds.

Who needs March Madness when you can have February Frenzy? Saturday's classic will acquire a treasured place in the ACC's already-large collection of great basketball moments.




By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer