Terps cruise into first place in 88-64 win against N.C. State

In a parity-filled ACC, the Terrapin men's basketball team has risen to the top.

The Terps hammered N.C. State 88-64 on Saturday at Comcast Center, lifting them to a 3-1 conference record and a tie with Virginia atop the conference standings.

Greivis Vasquez scored 17 of his game-high 19 points in the second half. Landon Milbourne finished with 18 points and five rebounds and Jordan Williams added nine points and nine rebounds.

Meanwhile, the Terps (13-5, 3-1 ACC) buried the Wolfpack with a stifling defensive effort. N.C. State, which upset No. 7 Duke at home on Wednesday, shot just 36 percent in their worst loss of the season — their sixth straight to the Terps.

Coach Gary Williams' squad never trailed after breaking an 8-8 tie 5:13 into their 21st-year coach's 1,000 career game.

A 12-2 run that took less than two minutes to complete put the Terps up 20-10 with 12:52 left in the first half. N.C. State (13-7, 2-4 ACC) chipped into that margin, but the Terps still managed to take an eight-point lead into the half when Eric Hayes hit four free throws in the final 11 seconds.

After halftime, Vasquez took over, making six of his eight shots as the Terps shot nearly 67 percent as a team to pull away. The Terps scored the first five points of the half and the Wolfpack never cut the lead back to single digits again.

Buoyed by a sold-out home crowd, the Terps continued to pour it on, while the Wolfpack struggled in hitting just 28 percent of its shots (10-of-36).

The Terps also finished with a 14-point advantage in made free throws (24-14) as an aggressive offense led the home team to earn more than twice as many opportunities at the charity stripe (33-16).

Dino Gregory's rebound and slam with 2:12 remaining put the Terps up 88-62. The emphatic throwdown proved a fitting exclamation point for a total team win that included 22 points from the bench, paced by 11 from Cliff Tucker.

Tracy Smith, the Wolfpack's leading scorer, finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds on 6-of-9 shooting — often fighting through double teams as part of a concerted Terp effort to deny him scoring opportunities. Point guard Javier Gonzalez added 13 points.

But the Wolfpack's other three starters — Scott Wood, Dennis Horner and Farnold Degand — finished with a combined 15 points on just 5-of-22 shooting from the field.

It wasn't nearly enough against a suddenly confident Terp squad that has now won five of its last six games.

edetweiler@umdbk.com