BEAR TRAP - Terps 84, Cal 71

KANSAS CITY, MO - With roughly eight minutes remaining in the Terrapin men's basketball team's first round NCAA Tournament game against California, Terp guard Greivis Vasquez airballed a 3-pointer. He simply smiled it off.

With the Golden Bears a now in possession, Vasquez stole the ball from opposing point guard Jerome Randle, sliced through two Golden Bears in transition and converted a layup to give the Terps their first double-digit lead of the afternoon.

The No. 10-seed Terps (21-13) were occasionally sloppy, but proved to be headstrong and talented enough to pull away from No. 7-seed California (22-11) in the second half for an 84-71 win.

The Terps, winners of nine straight first-round NCAA Tournament games, advance to play No. 2-seed Memphis on Saturday.

"[Our guys have been] tremendous workers all through the year, just preparing for each game that we've had to play, especially in the last month where every game was a pressure game," coach Gary Williams said. "And that continued today."

The Terps shot out of the gate to a 7-0 lead, but California pushed back and stayed close behind for the remainder of first half.

Heading into the break, the Terps led 34-31, and for about 20 minutes sandwiching halftime, neither team led by more than three points.

With 14:44 left in the game, the Golden Bears took their first lead on a Jamal Boykin layup. To that point, they hadn't even been tied since 0-0.

A 9-0 Terps run changed that.

Guard Eric Hayes and forward Landon Milbourne hit back-to-back 3-pointers to extend the Terps advantage to 59-51. California never again got within seven points.

"The fact that we made it back to the NCAA Tournament and won our first game is huge," forward Dave Neal said. "I think winning tonight shows that we're a great team, and we have a chance to pretty much hang with anybody else in the country.

After the run, the teams traded baskets. Then Vasquez, following his airball, made his move to extend the Terps' lead to 10.

"That was a horrible shot, coach was mad at me," said Vasquez, who finished with a game-high 27 points. "I was kind of upset with myself, so I wanted to make a play and after that shot, I made a good play and I made a basket. I don't know if it changed the pace of the game, but definitely, we started to play hard after that."

Neal, Hayes and guard Adrian Bowie were each in double-figures along with Vasquez. The Terps shot 49.2 percent from the field including a 61.3 percent clip in the second half.

The Terps employed a full-court defensive attack which helped to force 14 turnovers.

"Our coaches watched a ton of tape on California, and some teams pressured [them] and they struggled a little bit throughout the season," Neal said. "[Randle, at 5-feet-10 inches] being a shorter guard…when you trap him, he has a tough time looking over the trap."

California entered Thursday's contest as the top 3-point shooting team in the nation. But the Terps held the Golden Bears to 7-24 from long range - a 29.2 percent mark.

Beginning in a man-to-man set, Maryland switched to a zone defense midway through the half and stifled California from there on out.

"The man-to-man is usually our bread and butter, but the zone was what we needed today," said Dino Gregory, who energized the Terps with a host of hustle plays. "Give them a new look, something different, and they couldn't get into a flow after that."

"I thought it was our defense that allowed us to get some easy baskets," coach Williams said. "From there, we gained confidence in our basic set."

For the day's early session, there was a scattered, mostly non-partisan Sprint Center crowd.

The Terps fans in attendance yelled "ACC" in the final minute as their team wrapped up victory. And after the game, as Williams approached the sideline for an interview, they chanted "Gary! Gary! Gary!" a rallying cry which has become a constant during the last two months.

In the locker room following the game, Vasquez blamed his shooting faux pas on a sweaty ball. He laughed about it - after all, winning, and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament can make those situations seem frivolous.

"Turns out to be OK because I had everything under control," Vasquez, the Terps' leader said. "I took a horrible shot, but we got the win, so I don't really care about that."

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