TAKING FLIGHT

As his name bellowed from the speakers at Comcast Center on Saturday, Haukur Palsson shed his black warm-ups and hopped up from his seat on the bench as a wave of deafening noise from a disbelieving crowd met him near midcourt.

Palsson's emergence from relative anonymity as the least heralded member of the Terps' freshman class was largely unexpected at this point in the season. Without the kind of signature moment his classmates have already authored — guard Pe'Shon Howard hit a game-winning shot against the College of Charleston, and guard Terrell Stoglin's 17 points in a loss to Illinois in Madison Square Garden were a team high — few expected the Iceland native and high-school backup to make his first start in an important conference game against Clemson.

But with starting guard Sean Mosley struggling and the Terps facing a 36-hour turnaround between league games, coach Gary Williams opted to infuse some energy into the lineup with the switch to Palsson in an eventual 79-77 win against the Tigers.

Limited by early foul trouble, Palsson wasn't overly effective statistically, hitting a 3-pointer and grabbing two rebounds in 12 minutes. Still, he appears to have found a niche in the Terps' rotation heading into the middle of conference play.

"I'm here to help the team however possible," Palsson told reporters Jan. 19. "As a freshman, you're trying to get every minute you can and just try to help the team however I can. That's what I do."

Arriving in the United States in August 2009, Palsson enrolled at Florida's basketball powerhouse Montverde Academy. Playing behind higher-rated talents such as Villanova forward James Bell and Marquette forward Jamail Jones, Palsson logged most of his time as the team's sixth man, often coming off the bench to star as a 3-point specialist.

But after a few strong showings in local tournaments, the Rivals.com three-star recruit garnered a late offer from the Terps.

A relative unknown at the start of his freshman season, Palsson made brief appearances off the bench as the ninth or 10th player in Williams' rotation. He played substantial minutes in a rout of Maine on Nov. 14, when he scored eight points, but saw little time in other matchups.

As the Terps entered conference play at the beginning of January, it seemed coach Gary Williams had a fairly set rotation, one that didn't include Palsson. But with his assertiveness at practice, Palsson grabbed the attention of his coaches.

"In practice I've been more and more aggressive." Palsson said.

With the Terps fighting for an upset at then-No. 1 Duke, Palsson played 14 minutes against the Blue Devils, including nearly the final three minutes of the game. Guard Cliff Tucker was the lone substitute to play more minutes than Palsson.

Though he missed a couple of baseline jump shots that would have narrowed the deficit in an eventual 71-64 loss, Palsson showed the confidence to fit in with the Terps' offense. Later that week, Palsson played a career-high 20 minutes against Wake Forest.

The forward isn't the natural scorer that his freshman counterpart Stoglin is and doesn't yet have the game management Howard boasts. But he does provide flexibility in the post and on the wing when forwards Jordan Williams and Dino Gregory find themselves in foul trouble.

"He's doing really well, brings a lot of energy," Gregory said. "He's doing a great job for us right now, and I'm really happy for him."

Gary Williams rewarded Palsson's energized effort in practice and during games with the start against the Tigers.

"I just thought Hawk would give us energy at the start of a game," Williams said. "We had 36 hours from the end of the Virginia Tech game to try to figure out a way to get things fired up a little bit. I thought Hawk did a good job coming in when he did [with] the way he started the game and got us flying."

Williams probably won't look to Palsson as a permanent fixture in the starting lineup, having already changed the group five times in the past nine games. But Palsson likely will continue to garner consistent playing time in the final stretch of the regular season as the Terps battle for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

"I don't light up the stat sheet, but everything I do is to try and win," Palsson said. "If we're winning by 20 or 30, I'm still going to dive for that ball because that's how I play."

ceckard@umdbk.com