Maryland 74, Wake Forest 70

2/28/2008 10:09 PM

By JOEDY McCREARY
AP Sports Writer

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) -James Gist scored a career-high 31 points and Maryland held off Wake Forest's late rally, beating the Demon Deacons 74-70 on Thursday night.

Greivis Vasquez added 24 points and Gist had 10 rebounds for the Terrapins (18-11, 8-6 Atlantic Coast Conference), who nearly blew two 11-point leads but sealed it with three key defensive stops in the final 90 seconds.

Freshman James Johnson had 25 points and 14 rebounds for Wake Forest (16-10, 6-7), and his three-point play with 1:54 left pulled the Demon Deacons to 71-70.

Cliff Tucker hit a free throw to push the lead to two and Gist made 2-of-4 attempts from the foul line in the final 31 seconds. Meanwhile, Wake Forest didn't score again, coming up empty on its next three trips down the court. Johnson's pass was tipped and stolen by Gist, Ishmael Smith's go-ahead 3-pointer rattled in and out, and Harvey Hale's tying 3 bounced off the left iron.

Freshman guard Jeff Teague, who entered averaging 13 points but was guarded by Vasquez, didn't score in the first half and was held to six on 2-of-11 shooting.

The Demon Deacons never led in the second half but tied it for the first time since midway through the first on Johnson's follow-up dunk that made it 49-all with 14:43 left.

That's when Vasquez took over, scoring the game's next seven points, converting a three-point play, putting back his own miss and hitting a turnaround shot in the lane to start a 19-8 run. Eric Hayes capped the burst when he swished a 25-foot 3-pointer to push the lead to 68-57 with about 9 minutes left.

Hayes added 11 points for Maryland, and Wake Forest's Chas McFarland scored 11 points before fouling out with about 3 minutes left.

Gist and Vasquez combined for 32 of Maryland's 40 points at halftime. The Terrapins made seven of its first 10 3-pointers - Gist hit a career-high three of them - and used some hot shooting from the perimeter to fuel the tiebreaking run that gave them their largest lead of the half.

Gist knocked down two 3s and Vasquez capped the 18-7 burst with a spot-up 3 from the key to make it 36-25 with 6:10 before the break.