Maryland 7-0 After Beating Georgia Tech

Maryland turned up its defense to hold Georgia Tech to six field goals in the first half, and Keith Booth and Laron Profit provided the offense to send the Terrapins to their best start in 21 seasons.

Booth scored 24 points and Profit 18 for Maryland, which opened the Thursday night game with a 24-4 run and ended it a 77-63 winner at College Park, Md.

The Terrapins are 7-0, their best start since the 1975-76 team opened with 11 consecutive victories.

Matt Harpring had 21 points for Georgia Tech (4-2, 0-1). The Yellow Jackets made six of 24 shots in the first half and had only three baskets with 13 minutes elapsed.

Maryland scored the first seven points before Harpring made a 15-foot shot for the Yellow Jackets.

Obinna Ekezie then scored from the baseline for the Terrapins, and Booth sank a jump shot before Profit followed two Georgia Tech airballs with dunks for a 15-2 lead.

The Yellow Jackets, defending Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season champions, never cut the gap below 10 points in the second half in suffering their second lopsided loss in a row. They fell to Temple by 16 points on Saturday.

Georgia Tech closed to within 44-31 early in the second half, but Booth made a three-point play, Profit sank a three-point basket and Booth added a dunk and a layup to put Maryland ahead by 23 points with 13 minutes to play.

OTHER GAMES

Fred Edmonds scored seven points in the last five minutes, and Colorado (6-2) outscored Colorado State, 13-6, in that time to break a 63-63 tie and take a 76-69 victory in Boulder. . . . Charlton Clarke had 17 points for Massachusetts (3-3), which overcame an 8 1/2-minute scoring famine in the first half of a 69-48 victory over Drexel (3-3) in Amherst, Mass. . . . Mark Young scored four of his 23 points in overtime for Kansas State (5-1), which was an 84-81 winner over Coppin State (2-3) in Manhattan, Kan.

Arkansas Little Rock’s (3-3) Malik Dixon made seven of eight free throws late in the game to ice an 85-77 victory over Arkansas Pine Bluff (2-5). . . . Troy Hudson scored 26 points to lead Southern Illinois (4-2) to a 78-68 victory over Southeast Missouri (2-4) in Cape Girardeau, Mo. . . . Cyrus Caldwell’s shot at the buzzer gave him 20 points and gave Wisconsin Milwaukee (3-5) a 55-54 victory over Northeastern Illinois (3-2) in Milwaukee. . . . Malcolm Johnson scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half and made a 17-footer with 12.5 seconds to play to give Texas Christian (6-1) an 81-80 victory over Boston University (5-2) at Fort Worth.