THE SHOW GOES ON

GREENSBORO, N.C. – In its slide off the NCAA Tournament bubble in recent weeks, the Terrapin men's basketball team became what amounted to a two-man squad absent much energy or hope.

But in the opening minutes of Thursday night's first-round ACC Tournament game against No. 10 seed NC State, the seventh-seeded Terps regained the balanced scoring and defensive intensity they had lost.

They hit their shots, played tight defense and cruised to a 75-67 victory that kept the first stage of their postseason alive. And despite several late-game mistakes that again showed why they might not play in Greensboro Coliseum for much longer, the Terps held on to win and advance to face No. 2 seed Duke tonight.

"I thought we learned we could win," coach Gary Williams said. "Winning is a fragile thing, and if you lose a couple games, it starts to seep in. You have to have tough people to prevent that from happening. Whenever you have a young team, it's up to the players that played last year to be leaders."

Forward Jordan Williams started the game almost perfectly, converting a three-point play on the game's opening possession. On the team's next trip down the floor, freshman forward Haukur Palsson nailed a transition 3-pointer in just his second career start.

The Terps (19-13) raced out to a double-digit lead before the Wolfpack ever hit a field goal, holding an early 12-2 advantage. In never ceding control of the game, they built on a 13-0 run in the middle of the half to run past NC State (15-16).

And instead of becoming a scoring show solely orchestrated by Williams and guard Terrell Stoglin, the Terps' offense branched out. All nine players who logged minutes in the game scored. Even forward James Padgett, who relieved Dino Gregory in the first half after foul trouble, emerged from his place deep on the team's bench to finish with six points and four rebounds by intermission.

"We learned that we're a pretty tough team," forward Gregory said. "Our focus was going out there and believing in ourselves, and that's what we did."

The Wolfpack had to find options outside of star forward Tracy Smith (14 points), who was withheld from the starting lineup and hampered all night because of a nagging knee injury. Williams capitalized inside and finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds, his 24th double-double of the year.

"We came out with fire right away," he said. "We wanted to show that we were ready to play, that we had energy. We hit some shots and we got some stops, so we just carried the momentum from there."

The Terps used another quick start to the second half to distance themselves from NC State. Guard Cliff Tucker hit a 3-pointer with 10:11 remaining that gave the Terps a 58-46 lead. They kept a double-digit lead until the final two minutes, when the Wolfpack started a late comeback attempt.

In the final five-plus minutes of action, the Wolfpack trimmed the Terps' lead to six with a 14-5 run bolstered by harassing full-court pressure. But after Stoglin sank two late free throws, the Terps' date with the Blue Devils tonight was assured.

"They made us work all the way up to the end of that game," Gary Williams said. "The positive thing is that we won, and believe me, that's important."

The Terps' defense limited the Wolfpack to just 33.8 percent shooting from the field and only two of 17 from behind the arc. With an unusually high turnover total (17) on their own end, every Terp stop proved crucial.

"We've been preaching defense all week," Gary Williams said. "I felt our defense wasn't as good as it could be. I was glad to see us get some stops. We have to be that way."

Now, the Terps have to do something even tougher: beat Duke. With a win against the Blue Devils, who have beat them twice this season, the Terps would take another step closer to their improbable goal of winning one tournament and earning a berth to the biggest one around.

"I'm excited," Gregory said. "This is my last go-around in the ACC Tournament. Any time you can play in the second round, it doesn't come that often, [so] you have to be excited. We're going to look to play this game and then hopefully two after that."

ceckard@umdbk.com