March 10, 2014
Ceci Ferrara
Sports Writer
Sports Insider
With the Comcast Center at capacity and legendary Maryland coach Gary Williams sitting court-side, it seemed fitting that the Maryland Terps ended their season and their time in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) with a bang.
Leading up to Sunday’s match-up against No. 5 Virginia, the Terps were just 3-5 in their last eight games. Some of those particularly disheartening losses included games against Syracuse (57-55) and longtime conference rival Clemson–whom they fell to 73-77 last weekend.
“It’d been devastating had we lost another one,” Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said.
Thankfully, things came together for Maryland. Despite being the underdog, they never looked intimidated by the Cavaliers. The Terps were never out of contention, and clearly led up until the final seconds. Leading 64-61, Turgeon called a foul play on Virginia guard Malcolm Brogdon, who purposely missed his second free throw. When a botched tip gave the Cavaliers the ball back in bounds, Anthony Gill threw a down-court pass to tie the game and force overtime.
It was an unbelievable turn of events that deflated the crowd–and the players.
“Our guys were down; we were down; I was down,” Turgeon said. “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ But all the stuff we’ve been through has made us a lot tougher; it’s going to help us in the future. I said, ‘Guys, let’s make this the best five minutes of the year.”
And boy, did they. Maryland guard Seth Allen, who led the Terps with 20 points, scored the first five in overtime, followed by a Dez Wells layup and four of Jake Layman’s free throws. Maryland’s 11-point overtime led them to a stunning 75-69 OT victory over Virginia.
The crowd stormed the court, celebrating their team’s unexpected victory and final ACC game before their move to the Big Ten next year.
The Terps ended up with the eighth seed in the ACC tournament and will face No. 9 Florida State in the second round of the tournament Thursday at the Greensboro Coliseum. The winner will go on to face Virginia, the top seed, Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals.
PGA Tour
Unfortunately, back spasms forced Tiger Woods to withdraw from the Honda Classic. A week later, the spasms’ return caused an unpleasant — and unimpressive — outing for Woods on the final day of the WGC-Cadillac Championship.
“It’s the same thing…it flares up,” Woods told reporters. “It’s just a matter of keeping it calm, and we had a quick turnaround from last week. It will be nice to take this week off and get everything ready for Bay Hill.”
After starting the day just three shots out of the lead, Woods finished at 6-over-par 78 on Sunday, dropping him into a tie for 25th place. He finished nine strokes behind winner Patrick Reed. Jamie Donaldson and Bubba Watson rounded out the top three.
Despite his disappointing finish, Woods still has a reason to celebrate. Rory McIlory, who was threatening the top spot, tied with Woods at Doral, ensuring that Tiger would retain his No. 1 status. Next, Woods will defend his standing at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando on March 20-23. Woods won the Invitational last year, besting South Africa’s Justin Rose by two strokes.
