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Maryland at UVA 2/19/05
By Chris B.
Well since most of you all had better things to do this weekend (cruises to the Caribbean with the girlfriend, trips to NYC with the fiancé to see Rent, snowboarding up in Saratoga Springs with the wife, or just dinner with the wife and Mom, I figured I would be sure to write a good one up for you!
First Half
After watching this game, it is hard to remember a lot about the first half. It was a very closely played half, with no team taking more than a four point lead. Key news here was Mike Jones got the starting nod along with Garrison, NCM, McCray, and Gilchrist. Caner-Medley had 9 points in the first half, and again the terps were giving up three’s as usual. The score was 30 all at the half, and it wasn’t what you would call great basketball, but at least that effort that everyone seems to say wasn’t there in the post game press conferences was there.
Second Half
The second half saw UVA take a 48-42 lead on a Devin Smith 3 (shocker) with 15:02 remaining. Elton Brown gave UVA the six point lead with 13:42 remaining by making a FT. (Brown’s FT shooting will be a key to this game). With 11:02 remaining Chris McCray hit a 3 to cut the lead to 52-50. McCray and Gilchrist made back to back baskets to give the Terps a 54-52 lead with 8:34 remaining. Sterling Ledbetter then increased the lead to 5 with a 3 of his own. Two Garrison Ft’s, an Ibekwe Basket and FT gave the Terps a 62-54 lead. Elton Brown was helping the Terps out big time missing FT after FT. An NCM three-point play gave the Terps a 4-point lead with 3:52 to go. Devin Smith then cut the lead to 3 with a 3 pointer, and Gary Forbes cut it to 1 with a lay-up inside. Gilchrist made two FT’s with 10 seconds left and gave the Terps a 3-point lead. Gary Forbes then tied it with a huge three, and Gilchrist’s half court shot would come up just short sending the Terps to overtime. Lets just thank Elton Brown for even allowing this to get to overtime. He was such a liability shooting FT’s, 3-13 on the game Gillen had to take him out.
OT
With Elton Brown on the bench Garrison decided he was going to abuse Jason Cain. Garrison would score the first five points of OT; followed by two McCray FT’s to give the Terps a 76-69 lead with 3:29 left. Gillen went back to Elton Brown, but he was clearly shaken out there. Well as much as it was the Garrison show in OT (9 points), it was just as much the Shawn Singletary show (8 points). He took UVA on his back and made two huge three’s, the second of which tied the game with 23 seconds left. Gilchrist gets the ball over the time line and stalls, until about 4 seconds left before he even decides to start the play. Gary is going bonkers on the sideline to get him going to the basket. Well Gilchrist dribbles it off someone’s foot, and we never get a shot off. Gary yanks him for the remaining 1/10th of second, which goes harmlessly and onto the second OT.
OT 2
With Gilchrist riding pine for his bone headed play at the end of OT, Garrison still wants to be the man and scores his 10th and 11th points of OT. McCray followed it up with a dunk for a 4-point Terp lead. Singletary still is feeling it and makes two baskets with one in between by Devin Smith to tie the game at 87. Elton Brown scores inside for a two point UVA lead. NCM makes one of two from the stripe, and a minute later, Gilchrist nailed a huge three for a two point Terp lead. Elton Brown missed another FT (an air ball), and Ibekwe converts 1 of 2 for a three point Terp lead. With Singletary and Forbes fouled out, Elton Brown is forced to take a three, after stellar D by our boys. The shot falls harmlessly short, we grab the rebound and escape U-Hall with a win!
Game MVP goes to Elton Brown for his horrid FT shooting. This guy is over a 60% shooter, and to only make 3-13 is horrible. Thanks big man!
Report Card John Gilchrist- B+ The good: 22 points and 9 boards (points came in flow of the offense, I was shocked to see he had that many. 6 assist as well The bad: 5 TO’s including the one at the end of the first OT that prevented us from getting a shot off for the win. Travis Garrison- A The good: 20 points 8 boards, carried the team through both OT’s until fouling out The bad: Fouled out Nik Caner-Medley- B The good: 19 points 11 boards 5 assists The bad: Running his mouth after an and one, nearly got him T’ed.
Ekene Ibekew- C- The good: 8 points off the bench. The bad: only 2 boards.
Chris McCray- B The good: 13 points, 7 boards, 6 assists The bad: 5-14 shooting. Only attempted two FT’s (made both) DJ Strawberry- INC
Sterling Ledbetter- C The good: Getting more minutes, nailed a huge three, after shooting rather poorly The bad: Needs to work on his shot (1-6). James Gist- INC The good: Did not get injured in his 2 minutes of PT. The bad: Only got two minutes of PT Mike Grinnon- INC The good- DNP The bad: DNP. Mike Jones- C The good- Got the Start (not sure if GW is superstitious or not, but Terps are 2-0 on the road when starting MJ) 7 points. The bad- 2-8 shooting, Hopefully this will not cost him his PT Will Bowers- C- The good- Played 6 soild minutes The bad- When you play “solid” minutes, it means you didn’t do much good, or bad.
Gini Chukura- inc |