COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA TOURNAMENTS : Young Terps Make Sweet 16 : Midwest Regional: Led by freshman Smith, 10th-seeded Maryland surprises second-seeded Massachusetts, 95-87.

It served as a clear-cut warning to the teams remaining in the NCAA tournament:

Maryland has come of age.

With one of the youngest teams in Division I, the Terrapins celebrated their coming-out party with a come-from-behind 95-87 upset of second-seeded Massachusetts in the second round of the Midwest Regional at the Kansas Coliseum.

It was billed as a matchup between two of the most heralded freshmen in college basketball: centers Marcus Camby of Massachusetts and Joe Smith of Maryland.

Camby won the individual battle, but it was 10th-seeded Maryland that clearly won the war.

Although Camby finished with a career-high 32 points and 10 rebounds, Smith more than held his own in a more balanced Maryland attack.

He scored 22 points to join five other Maryland players in double figures.

It was the same total he scored when Massachusetts defeated the Terrapins in December, 94-80.

That was about the only similarity between the games.

“They were just hot today,” Massachusetts point guard Derek Kellogg said. “When you don’t miss many of your shots and you make your free throws, you’re going to be tough to beat.”

The Terrapins (18-11) made 60% of their shots, 70.4% in the second half.

Despite having a starting lineup that has two freshmen and three sophomores, Maryland maintained its poise from the start.

The Terrapins led most of the half behind the inside play of Smith and forward Keith Booth, another highly regarded freshman, and the outside shooting of guard Duane Simpkins.

They twice led by as many as six points, an alley-oop dunk by sophomore forward Exree Hipp giving Maryland a 30-24 lead with 6:55 to play in the half.

The Minutemen (28-7) took control for a while after that, going on a 13-0 run to take a 37-30 lead. The final points in the run came on a three-point basket by guard Mike Williams.

Massachusetts held a 43-38 lead at the half, nearly identical to its 45-40 lead over the Terrapins in the first meeting between the teams.

But after the Minutemen extended their advantage to 54-44 on a dunk by Camby early in the second half, the Terrapins regained control and kept it.

They went ahead to stay, 66-65, on a jumper by Hipp with 10:39 remaining and increased their lead to 14 several times.

When it was over, perhaps nobody was more impressed than Massachusetts Coach John Calipari. He remembered a conversation he had with Maryland Coach Gary Williams after the teams’ first meeting.

“I told Gary . . . that they were maybe two players away from being a Final Four team,” Calipari said. “Maybe I was wrong.”

Calipari was happy with the performance of Camby, although he couldn’t say the same for the rest of his players.

“Marcus Camby had simply a phenomenal game for us,” he said. “There’s no doubt that he’s one of the best freshmen in the nation. But when it’s all said and done, we have to look at ourselves in the mirror and ask what we could have done better.”

About the only thing he could think of was guard Maryland’s shooters a little more closely.

“They shot 60%, and I can’t tell you the last time a team did that against us,” Calipari said. “They just wanted the game more than we did, plain and simple.”

Said Maryland’s Booth: “Coming into this tournament, we didn’t know what to expect. But I think we showed what we’re made of with our intensity today.”