Jan. 21, 1998

Maryland Survives Late Charge by Georgia Tech

ATLANTA (AP) - Sarunas Jasikevicius broke a tie with 1.1 seconds left, canning three consecutive free throws, and Maryland held off a late charge by Georgia Tech 70-67 Wednesday night.

Tech (12-6, 2-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) had tied it with 5.4 seconds left on a layup by Matt Harpring at 67-67, but the Yellow Jackets' leading scorer then fouled Jasikevicius, who was attempting a desperation 3-point attempt as time was running out.

Maryland (11-7, 4-3 ACC) built its lead to nine points several times in te second half, the last at 60-51 with 7:03 left on a basket by freshman Rodney Elliott, who led the Terrapins with 16 points.

Trailing 67-62, Harpring made one of two free throws with 2:10 left and Alvin Jones then made two free throws 21 seconds later to get Tech within 67-65.

Tech had a chance to tie with 47.4 seconds left, but Jones missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but Maryland's Terrell Stokes then turned it over with 20.6 seconds left, leading to Harpring's tying basket.

Tech, down by 15 points in the first half, took its only lead of the second half on a 3-point basket by Dion Glover at 34-33, 2:03 after intermission. It was erased a minute later on a bucket by Terrell Morris and Tech never got closer than two before the finish.

Maryland had five players in double figures. Jasikevicius and Terence Morris had 13 and Obinna Ekezie and Mike Mardesich each added 10.

Dion Glover led Tech with 21 points and Harpring added 14.

Maryland, in an up-and-down season, beat then No. 1 North Carolina 89-83 in overtime last Wednesday, then lost on the road to Wake Forest 72-60 in its last outing on Saturday.

It was the second straight 70-67 loss by Tech, who lost to Florida State by that score on Sunday.

Maryland led 31-29 at halftime in an opening 20 minutes that included an early 16-1 run by the Terrapins and a closing spurt of 22-6 by Georgia Tech to gain a 29-29 tie with 1:15 left on a 3-point play by Travis Spivey.

Harpring, the ACC's leading scorer, fell to heavily to the floor going for a rebound 1.2 seconds before halftime and left the court bleeding from a cut above his right eye. He received seven stitches during the intermission, but came out late for warmups and started the second half with a bandage protecting the cut.

Maryland took a 23-7 lead with 9:14 gone as the Terrapins harassed Tech into 11 turnovers in the 16-1 spree led by a pair of 3-point baskets by Jasikevicius. The Yellow Jackets managed to hit on only two of their first 14 shots.

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