4th Quarterfinal - 2004 ACC Tournament Men's Basketball

Greensboro Coliseum

Greensboro, NC

Mar 12, 2004

Maryland Terrapins vs Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Maryland came into the ACC tournament with a record of 16-11. The Terrapins were the 6th seed in the tournament. Maryland ended the regular season with a two game wining streak by first winning at North Carolina State (ranked 16th in the country at the time) by a point. They followed that up with a win at home over Virginia by 9 points.

Wake Forest came into the ACC tournament with a record of 19-8. The Demon Deacons were the 3rd seeded team in the tournament and ranked 15th in the county. Wake Forest ended the regular season with a two game losing streak. The first loss was at Virginia by 2 points and the second was at home against North Carolina State by 11 points.

Wake Forest swept the season series against Maryland. They beat the Terrapins at home (at the end of Jan) by 8 points and then at Maryland (at the end of Feb) also by 8 points. Wake Forest was ranked 19th nationally at the time of the first game and 11th at the time of the second one.

It was a close and physically tough game from the opening tip. Wake Forest led 8-11 at the first TV timeout. The game slowed down a bit, Maryland pulled a bit closer and were just down by a point at the second TV timeout when the score was 15-16. The game continued to be physical. There were a number of the collisions and a couple moments when it looked like a fight might break out. The Terrapins outscored the Demon Deacons by 4 points leading up to the third TV timeout when they had the lead 22-19. Wake Forest scored more points than Maryland leading up to the fourth and final TV timeout of the half when the score was 30-30.

Not much changed between that point and halftime at which point the score was 36-36. The score was, like the stats, pretty much dead even at halftime. The scoring picked up a little bit early in the second half when Wake took the lead. The Demon Deacons were ahead at the 1st TV timeout when the score was 47-50 in their favor.

Maryland played stronger than Wake Forest after the first TV timeout of the second half. The Terrapins took the lead, and were up by 5 points but the Demon Decons cut that lead to 2 just before the second TV timeout of the half when the score was 60-58.

Maryland did not let up. The Terrapins outscored the Demon Deacons by four to increase the lead to 71-65 at the third TV timeout. The game stayed close but Maryland held on to the lead. Both teams hit a lot of 3-point shots. with about 4 minutes to go the score was 79-78 in Maryland's favor and then after the Terrapins and Demon Deacons traded 3-point shots it was 82-81.

Eric Williams, Wake Forest's best front court player, fouled out with about 3:30 to go in the second half. There were a number of other players in foul trouble at this point on both teams. Both teams continued to play strong but the Demon Deacons could not get their shots to drop. Maryland called timeout with a minute and a half to play and the score 86-81 in their favor.

Maryland had the ball after the timeout but Wake forced a turnover. The Demon Deacons leading scorer, freshman point guard Chris Paul, hit a 3-point shot with 42 seconds left in the game to pull his team to within 2 points of the Terps. Wake Forest forced another turnover and with 20 seconds left in the game Chris Paul was fouled while shooting and went to the line to shoot two. He hit both free throws and the game was tied 86-86.

Maryland moved the ball down past the midcourt line and called timeout with 12.9 seconds to go in the game. John Gilchrist made a move towards the basket and was fouled with 3.7 seconds left in the game. He hit the first foul shot and then Wake Forest called timeout. Gilchrist came back to the line after the timeout and missed the second shot. It bounced off the front of the rim. Three Wake Forest players went for the ball. The Demon Deacons got the ball but were unable to call timeout or get a good shot off before time expired. Maryland won the game 87-86.

Chris Paul led all players in the game with 30 points. Jamaal Levy, also of the Demon Deacons was second in scoring with 18 points. Two Terrapins tied with 16 points apiece, John Gilchrist and Travis Garrison. The leading rebounder in the game was Garrison with 10. Maryland shot 27 of 57 from the field, which included 9 of 14 from behind the 3-point line, and hit 24 of 32 free throws.

Maryland advanced to play NC State in the semi-finals. Wake Forest went home to wait and see where they would get seeded in the NCAA Tournament.