THE BITTER END

SPOKANE, Wash. — For much of the Terrapin men's basketball season, guard Greivis Vasquez talked about winning games, hanging championship banners in Comcast Center and taking the program to heights it has rarely seen since its National Championship season eight years ago.

Yesterday, sitting with his coach and two fellow seniors in the interview room at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, there were no more games to look forward to, titles to win or places to go.

In the minutes after a gut-wrenching, buzzer-beating loss to No. 5 seed Michigan State, Vasquez tried to put his experiences as a Terp into perspective.

He started by mentioning seniors Eric Hayes and Landon Milbourne. Then, the Venezuelan acknowledged his gratitude for the opportunity to play under coach Gary Williams.

And finally, as if realizing all the people he'd left out, the player, who thanked each of his teammates by name on the day he was named ACC Player of the Year, gave up.

"All I can say that I'm very, very proud of my teammates and my coaches and everybody involved with us," Vasquez said.

On the day Vasquez passed Len Bias to become the second leading scorer in Terp history, his career ended in an abrupt and disappointing loss. Despite scoring 10 points in the final two minutes and hitting a go-ahead shot with six seconds left, Vasquez's career ended without ever making the Sweet 16.

The quirky star was at his best in the closing minutes of his 26-point performance.
Even when it was hard to believe the Terps had a comeback left in their tank, Vasquez continued his passionate play. Even though he had struggled with his outside shot in recent games, Vasquez put himself in position to be the Terps' hero.

With 5:06 remaining and the Terps down by 10 points, Vasquez started doing jumping jacks on the court, trying to incite the small contingent of Terp fans behind the team's bench.

Three minutes later, after hitting a floater while being fouled, Vasquez banged his chest and yelled "Let's go" right in front of the Terp band.

"He showed in the last minute there how important he was to the team," Hayes said in the locker room afterward as he also struggled to sum up Vasquez's role. "I thought he had won the game for us again. He's done that a lot this year. It's been a privilege playing with him."

In reality, Vasquez came up short of the lofty team goals he set for his senior season, despite leading the Terps to an unexpected share of the conference's regular season title.

The promised ACC Tournament run sputtered out with a March 12 loss before it ever got a chance to get started. And yesterday, he lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the third time in his four seasons.

But before it was over, Vasquez gave one last performance to remember him by, taking control during the unlikely Terps' late run.

He finished with 26 points, eight assists, four rebounds and three steals — an impressive all-around stat line for a guy who prided himself on his versatility.

And maybe most importantly, he once again did it with his trademark flair, giving a Herculean effort down the stretch to prolong his career by another game.

That's the way many will remember Vasquez, including Williams.

"Unfortunately, there's not enough people that do anything in life like that," Williams said. "Everybody's politically correct, especially where we live. And it's nice to see people that aren't afraid to put it out there, and he's one of them."

edetweiler@umdbk.com