ANSWERED PRAYER

Terrapin men's basketball coach Gary Williams takes pride in preparation.

When the Terps, trailing by a point with 1.5 seconds remaining Saturday against Georgia Tech, found themselves with an inbounds play from near midcourt, Williams' squad knew it had practiced for such a scenario.

The team works on similar set plays in the last 15 minutes of almost every practice — and nearly every time, the ball ends up in the hands of seniors Greivis Vasquez or Eric Hayes.

Naturally, with his team's perfect home conference record hanging in the balance, the 21st-year coach designed a play for reserve swingman Cliff Tucker .

Tucker nailed a contested 3-pointer from the left corner as time expired to give the Terps a 76-74 win at Comcast Center. It was the Terps' first game-winning shot as time expired since Drew Nicholas' off-balance 3-pointer to beat UNC-Wilmington in the first round of the 2003 NCAA Tournament.

After Vasquez seemingly won the game when he banked in a 40-foot runner just after the Terps called a timeout, Tucker took an inbounds pass from Hayes, pumped and fired the winning shot over Georgia Tech's Glen Rice Jr. As the ball rattled into the hoop, Tucker sprinted around the court before being mobbed by teammates and several students underneath the basket.

"I dreamed about [hitting a game-winning shot] a lot of times," said Tucker, who finished with eight points in nine minutes. "I don't practice it, but I'm happy it came true today."

Vasquez, who scored his 2,000th career point on a first-half 3-pointer, paced the Terps (19-7, 9-3 ACC) with 18 points, eight assists and five rebounds. Hayes bounced back from a scoreless effort Wednesday at N.C. State by adding 15 points, and the Terps made just enough plays down the stretch to drop Georgia Tech for the ninth straight time — the longest winning streak by an ACC team against one conference opponent.

Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said his young team probably played its best game of the season. Williams described his team as "fortunate" several times in his postgame remarks.

The Terps, who had won their first five ACC home games by an average of 19 points per game, won despite ceding 24 second-chance points and trailing by as many five points in the final five minutes.

"You need some breaks at times during the year," Williams said. "We got one there, but we played well enough to be in position to get that break."

Tucker's shot capped a wild final few minutes to a back-and-forth game that neither team led by more than six points. The game's final 1:20 featured five lead changes.

Georgia Tech's D'Andre Bell hit a jumper with 24 seconds left to give the Yellow Jackets (18-9, 6-7) a one-point lead. After a timeout, Vasquez answered with his own runner in the lane.

But Yellow Jacket freshman Derrick Favors, who dominated with 21 points and 18 rebounds, put back an Iman Shumpert miss with three seconds to go. Vasquez raced up court and banked in a long shot, but it came just after the Terp bench signaled for a timeout. Tucker said assistant coach Keith Booth called the timeout. Williams could be seen angrily pointing in Booth's direction. 

After some confusion about how much time remained and where the inbounds play would take place, Hayes angled a pass around Favors and Tucker sank the tough shot that would ultimately put the Terps alone in second place in the ACC.

"Cliff did what he had to," said Williams, who appeared at his press conference without the dark suit jacket that he threw to the ground in frustration with about five minutes left in the game. "We just said, ‘If we catch it, we have to shoot it. There's no time for anything else.' And it was a great shot."

The ending overshadowed Vasquez's major milestone. Entering the game, the guard needed five points to reach the 2,000-point mark. He hit for seven of his teams' first nine points, punctuating the 3-pointer that made him the sixth Terp to achieve that honor with his trademark shimmy.

Vasquez, who assisted several of his team's most important baskets down the stretch, shot just 5-of-16 but said he never doubted the Terps would win, even after his bank-shot prayer was waved off.

"I'm excited, but I'm more excited about Cliff's shot," Vasquez said of becoming the first player in ACC history with 2,000 points, 700 assists and 600 rebounds.

Vasquez's successful — but ultimately inconsequential — heave and Tucker's game-winner were honored as the top-two highlights, respectively, on SportsCenter's "Top 10" yesterday morning. It was those tense final minutes, a perfectly executed final play and the unlikely hero that defined the contest that likely earned a permanent place in Comcast Center history.

When Tucker's shot fell, giving the Terps their fifth win in six games, all that was left to do was celebrate.

"I felt tired chasing Cliff around the court," forward Dino Gregory said of the immediate postgame scene. "He was sprinting hard, but it's an amazing feeling. It's something I never felt in my life."

edetweiler@umdbk.com