December 6, 1998
WASHINGTON (AP) - Maryland has spent the early part of the season answeringquestions.
Would junior college transfer Steve Francis spoil the chemistry on a teamwith three veteran starters returning?
How would the Terrapins react when they played good teams after an easyearly schedule?
Would they be able to come through in a close game rather than the blowoutsthey created?
The last of the answers came Sunday when No. 2 Maryland beat No. 5 Stanford62-60 in the opening round of the BB&T Classic behind Francis' career-high 24points.
The Terrapins (9-0), who won their first eight games by an average of 32.8points - none closer than 16 - play the winner of the George Washington-DePaulgame for the championship on Monday night at the MCI Center.
"You always want to win but when you do have a close game against a teamthat good you have to do good things down the stretch," Maryland coach GaryWilliams said. "We weren't perfect but I always say that in the final fiveminutes of a game you don't have to be perfect you just have to play tough andsmart."
Maryland, which proved it could beat the quality teams with easy wins overUCLA and Pittsburgh in the Puerto Rico Shootout, won Sunday despite a roughouting with its halfcourt offense and in taking a pounding off the boards fromthe Cardinal (4-2), who lost their second straight game.
"Stanford forced us to play their way," Williams said. "They probablyplayed as good a game on defense as we've seen all year. They're so big there'snot much room to run around on offense."
Maryland took the lead for good at 59-57 with 1:22 to play on two freethrows by Francis, whose speed in the open court has been the Terrapins' earlytrademark. After a turnover by Stanford, Laron Profit made one of two freethrows with 20 seconds left, his first point of the game. Another Stanfordturnover led to a breakaway dunk by Profit with 11 seconds to play.
The Cardinal, who lost to No. 9 North Carolina in the final of the PreseasonNIT, got within 62-60 on a 3-pointer by Arthur Lee with 5.9 seconds to play,but when Maryland inbounded the ball Stanford couldn't catch any of theTerrapins to foul them.
"That's a game you feel like maybe you could have gotten," Stanford coachMike Montgomery said. "We talked about making plays at the end of the gameagainst a team of that caliber and then we didn't make the plays at the end. Inour last four possessions we had turned it over twice and then with fiveseconds to go we don't switch on the screen and can't foul them."
Terence Morris and Obinna Ekezie each had 11 points for Maryland, whileFrancis, a 6-foot-3 guard, also had seven rebounds.
"They played us physical. We're used to playing physical but today weplayed our best game," said Francis, who came in averaging 15.4 points, 3.9rebounds and 4.7 assists. "We had to step up to a big goal today and beat theNo. 5 team in the nation.
"It was good. It was a good experience for everyone on our team especiallyme to see feel how it is to be in a close game. At the same time you have tonotice that we didn't play our best game today and still came out with thevictory. We still have a lot of stuff we have to work on."
Lee led Stanford with 14 points and eight assists, while Mark Madsen had 12points and eight rebounds for Stanford, which finished with a 42-29 reboundadvantage, including 17-6 on the offensive end.
"The problems we had were all our fault it was nothing they did," Leesaid. "We definitely haven't played to our potential lately. We let one slipaway against North Carolina and then another one today."
Stanford had a great start and led 19-8 8 1/2 minutes into the game. Two3-pointers by freshman Danny Miller started a 27-8 run by Maryland, whichpicked the pace up to its liking and turned turnovers into points.
Francis had 12 points in that run and his speed was also the key to theTerrapins' 8-0 run in the second half that gave them a 56-51 lead with 4:46left.
"Francis was huge. He's a great one on one player," Montgomery said. "Hewas their go-to guy today and he was the guy that made it happen."
Stanford, which had six field goals over the final 12 minutes and all butone was a 3-pointer, tied the game for the final time at 57-57 on a drivingbanker by Lee with 1:54 to play.
By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer