Vasquez’s final moment at Comcast is golden
Greivis Vasquez’s final minute at Comcast Center was his finest hour. Going one-on-one with Duke guard Jon Scheyer, the senior guard made all the key plays on Senior Night, propelling Maryland to a 79-72 victory over arch-rival Duke.
As security personnel tried to keep Terp fans off the court in the closing seconds, Vasquez undermined their efforts, waving them down to join him in an ecstatic celebration of a signature win and an unforgetable clutch performance. At the buzzer, Vasquez and his teammates were engulfed in joyous, yellow-clad fans.
Virginia (15-13, 6-9) lost its eighth consecutive game Wednesday night, falling at Boston College. Sophomore G Sylven Landesberg (17.4 ppg, 5 rpg) is the man to stop. Maryland won the first meeting in College Park 85-66 behind Greivis Vasquez (30 points, 8 rebounds). The Terps have lost three straight in Charlottesville.
“The whole country was watching the game,” said Vasquez. “This is a dream come true.”
With an outrageous, running one-hander from the right baseline with 37 seconds left, Vasquez (20 points, 5 assists) hit the biggest basket of the night, giving Maryland a 73-69 lead.
“It was a tough shot. It was meant to be,” said Vasquez. “I’m honest. I work on those shots. But God wanted me to score there.”
Moments later, at the other end, Vasquez stuffed a driving layup attempt by Scheyer, giving the Terps possession and the edge it needed to pull even with Duke in the ACC race.
“It came down to a possession or two at the end. They made their shots. We missed some layups,” said Scheyer. “[Vasquez] plays with a lot of emotion and makes their team go. He’s the guy for their team.”
Maryland freshman Jordan Williams (15 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks) had the go-ahead basket with 1:35 left. Guards Eric Hayes (13 points, 5 rebounds) and Sean Mosley (11 points) were steady throughout. And junior Adrian Bowie (9 points) gave the Terps a lift when they needed it most in the second half, hitting 4 of 4 shots.
“I thought Adrian Bowie in the second half was a great player,” said Maryland coach Gary Williams. “He might have been the difference. He got us through.”
Maryland (22-7, 12-3) and Duke (25-5, 12-3) are tied for first place in the ACC. The Terps travel to Virginia (15-14, 5-10) for their regular-season final Saturday, while the Blue Devils take on rival North Carolina (16-14, 5-10). If the teams finish tied, Duke will get the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament next week.
“I’m not even thinking about the ACC Tournament,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. “I’m thinking about North Carolina. Whatever happens in the ACC Tournament happens.”
Fueled by the emotion of Senior Night after the Terps honored Vasquez, Hayes, Landon Milbourne (5 points), and injured Jerome Burney, Maryland roared to a 7-0 lead in the noisy opening minutes and built it to as many as 14 as Hayes and Mosley drilled back-to-back 3-pointers for a 33-19 lead.
But with big work from guards Nolan Smith (20 points) and Scheyer (19 points, 5 rebounds), forward Kyle Singler (14 points, 5 rebounds) and 7-foot center Brian Zoubek (4 points, 13 rebounds), Duke rallied. Consecutive 3-pointers by Smith and Scheyer to close the half capped a 9-0 run as the Devils cut the edge to 40-38.
“No one scores a lot of points against Duke, but we did early. We were really hot and made some great plays,” said Gary Williams. “You’d like to think you can do that for 40 minutes, but you’re not because they’re going to find ways to shut you down.”
By tightening its defense and pounding the offensive glass, Duke assumed a 46-42 lead early in the second half and appeared on the verge of duplicating the formula it used to beat Maryland, 77-56, on Feb. 13.
But in a key span, midway through the half, Bowie came off the bench to lift Maryland. Hitting a driving layup, Bowie gave Maryland the lead and re-energized the crowd. Later he hit a 3-pointer, drained a pull-up jumper, and threw in a hook shot after grabbing an offensive rebound.
“Adrian really saved us in the second half,” said Hayes. “We were struggling to score and came in there when Greivis and I were on the bench and he provided us a nice spark of scoring, playing good defense, getting out on the break.”
Bowie’s energetic play set the tone for the closing 6 minutes, when Maryland was efficient at the offensive end, scoring on 10 of its final 11 possessions. Vasquez had nine of the points during the run. It was a pace Duke couldn’t match.
“My teammates put me on the spot to make good decisions at the end,” said Vasquez. “The whole team did a great job just keeping everything together and we got the win.”
Notes » It was the 14th straight year that Maryland notched a win over a top-10 team … Maryland shot 50 percent from the floor and held Duke to 39 percent.
