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Maryland at Virginia Tech 3/5/05
By Chris B.
Well if you want one word to describe an entire weekend, in my mind it would be disappointment. It all started with a friendly game of cards at Jared’s in Fall Church. Both Bob and I were big fat losers. Then after driving through the snow, and sitting at dead stop in several different parts of Virginia on route 81, we finally made it to Cassell Colosiem with time to spare. Let me first skip ahead to the ride home. Here is a warning for you all. DO NOT GO OVER 80 IN VIRGINIA. I got nabbed on the way home, and now must go to court to fight a Reckless Driving rap since I was doing over 80. Consider yourself warned. Now back to the game. We saw papa Gist on the concourse, and he looked overly concerned. Once we arrived inside and made the climb to the last row of the joint (which wasn’t bad seating) we found out that James Gist was going to get the start. It was senior day for Tech and the lone senior was Carlos Dixon, who in my opinion deserved the fan fair he was receiving.
First Half
Well much like our trip down to Tech for the football game, before the game starts they play Enter Sandman, which sends the place into a frenzy. That along with the fact it was senior day, and both teams were fighting to get the all important 8th conference win, and the place was electric. We would later find out that it was spring break, but the students who stuck around made their presence known. The game started with a put-back basket by John Gilchrist, after a Garrison miss down low, to give the Terps a 2-0 lead. That lead would last all of 34 seconds when Zabian Dowdell drilled a three pointer to give Tech the lead at 3-2. By the 18:04 mark, Jamon Gordon hit another Tech three pointer to give them an 8-2 lead. Maryland would cut the lead to 2 on a Chris McCray layup, but it was the score was quickly pushed back to 19-10 on a Dixon basket. The lead was stretched to 13 as Gordon hit another three and made it 27-14. Another timeout called by GW and thanks to some strong play by James Gist, the Terps had cut the lead to 27-22 on a Gist dunk. At the 4:03 mark Gilchrist hit a baseline jumper, and then blew the end of his finger like it was a gun and put them in his “holster” while running down the court. Well this made him public enemy number one. He was booed every time he touched the ball from then on out. This basket cut the lead to 6. A Deron Washington put back dunk with 5 seconds left gave Tech and 8 point lead heading into the half.
Second Half Well during warm ups, the crowd cheered every time Gilchrist missed a shot, and booed when he missed. Well deserved in my opinion. The half started well as Gist scored an easy bucket inside to cut the lead to 6. The lead would bounce around between 6 and 10 for the next couple of minutes, before, Mike Jones finally hit a three for the Terps, to cut it to 7 with 13:51 remaining. A Gist put back and a Gilchrist layup and the lead was down to 2. A McCray jumper on a fast break cut the lead to 2 with 11:32. The game would be tied at 57 with a Nik Caner-Medley jumper in the paint. By the 7:38 mark the Terps were again down 8 at 65-57. You could tell it took a lot out of them to get back into it, and when a couple of chances to take the lead were missed by McCray and Jones, they just kind of lost the wind in their sails. McCray cut it to 3 with a three pointer, but seconds later Carlos Dixon connected on a three of his own to put the lead at 6. Every time the Terps showed a sign of life, Tech had an answer. It was a killer three, or an offensive rebound followed by a dunk, or something that really sent the fans into a frenzy. Gist then did every thing he could to keep the Terps in it scoring 6 points over the next few minutes. However, as the parade to the free throw line started, tech began pulling away. It was at this point where I decided I have had my share of John Gilchrist on this team. I will never forget the incredible show he put on at the ACC tournament last year, single handedly carrying the Terps to their first tournament crown since the Len Bias era, but the way he has acted on the court this year drives me nuts. He gets down on himself and teammates at the first sign of failure. He has been overly emotional this year from collapsing on the court in Wisconsin, to looking like a zombie when he was benched at Wake. Even in the wins against Duke, he has looked physically and mentally drained. It is the mental part that bothers me. He was sulking, not hustling up to the other end of the court when we were fouling to try and get back into the game. He was complaining to the officials instead of hustling back on defense. I can honestly say I hope he decides to go pro, unless he realizes he needs to act like a leader, and a point guard who can score, still needs to be counted on to run the team and be a leader. Back to the game, now that I gave my opinion on JG. The place was going nuts, they began getting fast breaks and put on a dunking display which included, a Carlos Dixon dunk, and then they were able to pull him from the game after scoring 20 points and gave him his senior day fair well. That place got loud, and will become a tough venue in the ACC. They got behind their team, and against ours. The most fitting sign I saw was on that Sorry ACC, we ruined your conference.
Report Card:
Travis Garrison: F The Good: Made a three pointer The Bad: Had as many points as turnovers, 0 rebounds, played 10 minutes
Nik Caner Medley: C The Good: 12 points The Bad: 4-12 shooting. 2 Boards.
Ekene Ibekwe: F The Good: 2 points, 3 boards The Bad: See the “good”.
John Gilchrest: D+ The Good: 11 points, 7 assists and 6 boards. The Bad: Attitude, Attitude, Attitude.
Chris McCray: B The Good: 18 points and 7 boards The Bad: Missed some open threes when we could have taken the lead.
DJ Strawberry: INC The Good: Nothing Good about his absence. The Bad: Not able to play.
Sterling Ledbetter: C- The Good: 4 assists The Bad: Nothing notable other than assists.
James Gist: A+ The Good: 18 points (6-8 shooting, 6-6 FT) was able to post up and score inside The Bad: Didn’t get as many minutes as he should have.
Mike Jones: D- The Good: 8 points three boards The Bad: Took a couple of ill-advised threes, 3-11 shooting 2-7 from 3 (missed dunk).
Will Bowers: B+ The Good: 4 points three boards. The Bad: Bob proclaimed he can have his nickname back, way to go Wilbo!
Mike Grinnon: C The Good: Played 7 minutes and 2 boards The Bad: Didn’t really do ANYTHING, whether it was good or bad.
Gini Chukura: INC
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