January 30, 2007

Derek Redd, Osceola
Warchant.com

Florida State guard Jason Rich had a couple of theories for the men's basketball team's rebounding dominance against Maryland in the Seminoles' Tuesday night 96-79 win.

On one hand, you could say the Seminoles just got the job done on the boards. On the other hand you could say they hit so many shots, the Terrapins hardly had a chance for a rebound.

The Seminoles shot a season-high 61.7 percent from the floor to win their fourth ACC game in their last five, pulling them to an even 4-4 conference record and giving them a shot of momentum going into Sunday's showdown at Duke.

FSU used a 12-2 run at the start of the second half to take its first double-digit lead and coast past Maryland 96-79, evening their ACC conference record at 4-4. It was the Seminoles' second straight conference win and fourth in their last five games, providing a bit of momentum for their upcoming Sunday afternoon game at Duke.

Leading 49-46 at the start of the second, the Seminoles (16-6) got four points each from Al Thornton, Jason Rich and Isaiah Swann on a 12-2 FSU run that pushed the Seminoles' lead into double digits. In a shining example of just how well the Seminoles were shooting, Swann converted his second four-point play of the game on that run.

"In the second half, I thought our guys came out with tremendous energy," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. "We didn't worry about the mistakes of the first half. We maintained a positive attitude and worked our way through it."

Maryland missed five of its first six second-half shots to allow what was a close game to slip away.

"We scored 46 points in the first half," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "We expected to be in good shape, but we started out sluggish the second half and we couldn't keep pace with the way the scoring was going."

The Terps (16-6, 3-4 in the ACC) brought the lead down to single digits once more, at 79-70 with about six minutes remaining, but the Seminoles scored the game's next nine points to pull away again.

Thornton led the way with a game-high 27 points, his sixth 20-plus-point game in his last seven, adding game-high eight rebounds. Rich added a career-high 24 points on 10-of-12 shooting.

Maryland didn't help itself by letting the conference's worst rebounding team ? Florida State averaged 31.5 entering Tuesday night's game ? dominate the boards. The Seminoles outrebounded the Terrapins 33-19.

The Seminoles kept trying to pull away from the Terrapins, but never could lead by more than six in the first half, thanks to Florida State's inability to stop Maryland inside. The Terps shot 63 percent from the floor and 24 first-half points in the paint.

The Terps' defense also was less than stellar, allowing the Seminoles to shoot 64 percent from the floor and 54 percent from 3-point range in the first half. FSU shot 59 percent in the second half and a season-high 61.7 percent for the game. Maryland ended the night shooting 57 percent from the floor, 50 percent in the second half.

FSU point guard Toney Douglas added 16 points, while Swann chipped in 15. James Gist led Maryland with 23 points.

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