Inspired Maryland Wins Again at North Carolina

Maryland sure has a funny way of showing respect for the North Carolina tradition.

Obinna Ekezie, hampered with foul trouble the first half, scored 19 points over the final 17:41 as the fifth-ranked Terrapins defeated No. 9 North Carolina, 89-76, Wednesday night, winning at the Dean Smith Center for the third time in the last four years.

“We just came in here with a good attitude,” Maryland’s Laron Profit said. “We love this arena, we love the excitement, we love looking at the banners, we love thinking about the history and the tradition that this place has.

“We want to put on a good show when we come here because we feel like that’s being respectful for what they’ve done for the game of basketball.”

Profit scored 24 points as the Terrapins (16-2, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) shot 58% in the second half and went to a zone defense to help protect Ekezie.

“It’s a special accomplishment to have it happen on the day Michael Jordan--the most famous Tar Heel of them all--retired,” Profit said. “It puts a special spin on it.”

Brendan Haywood led North Carolina (14-4, 2-2) with 18 points and 11 rebounds and Ed Cota added 17 and 11 assists.

No. 2 Duke 82, Wake Forest 72--The Blue Devils’ run of ACC blowouts ended when they needed a strong finish defensively and 26 points from Trajan Langdon to beat the Demon Deacons at Winston-Salem, N.C.

The Blue Devils (16-1, 5-0) won their 11th consecutive game. They won their previous two games by 41 and 46 points and came to Wake Forest (11-5, 2-2) with the largest average margin of victory in the nation--29 points.

No. 8 Auburn 74, Mississippi 59--The Tigers extended their winning streak to 16 games and remained one of three NCAA Division I unbeatens. No. 1 Connecticut and No. 3 Cincinnati are the others.

Auburn also snapped Ole Miss’ school-record 29-game home-court winning streak, the third longest in the country behind Murray State and No. 2 Duke.

The Tigers are 4-0 in the Southeastern Conference for the first time since 1984. Ole Miss is 12-5 overall and 2-2 in the SEC.

No. 13 Purdue 63, Illinois 54--The Boilermakers used a 12-2 run in the first half to take control of the Big Ten game at West Lafayette, Ind.

Illinois (8-8, 0-4) fell behind, 38-21, when Purdue (14-3, 2-1) scored the first six points of the second half.

No. 14 Michigan State 71, No. 19 Minnesota 55--The Big Ten victory at East Lansing, Mich., was the Spartans’ first in five tries against ranked teams this season.

The Spartans (13-4, 2-1) took control in the first half with a 16-2 run. During the run, Minnesota (10-3, 1-2) went 7:29 between baskets.

No. 16 New Mexico 82, San Jose State 81--Lamont Long had 22 points, including four straight free throws in overtime, as the Lobos (15-2, 3-1 Western Athletic Conference) rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to defeat the Spartans (8-7, 1-1) at San Jose.

Long also sent the game into overtime with a jumper with 30 seconds left.

No. 17 Wisconsin 61, Penn State 58--It took time, but the Badgers won the Big Ten game at State College, Pa., that started one hour and 20 minutes late because inclement weather delayed the arrival of two referees.

Wisconsin (15-3, 3-2) won its third consecutive conference game. Penn State (9-6, 1-4) lost its third in a row.

No. 23 Indiana 81, Northwestern 78--The Hoosiers extended their winning streak over the Wildcats in Bloomington, Ind., to 29 games over the last 31 years.

Luke Recker scored 28 points to lead Indiana (15-5, 2-3 Big Ten), which held off a second-half comeback. The Hoosiers led by 16 midway through the second half, but the Wildcats (9-4, 2-2) cut the lead to 74-70 with 4:43 left.

No. 24 Arkansas 61, Mississippi State 59--Chris Jefferies made a free throw with 5.2 seconds left and blocked the game’s final shot at Starkville, Miss., to give the Razorbacks the SEC victory.

Arkansas (12-4, 2-2) had a 57-45 lead with just over four minutes left, but the Bulldogs (12-5, 2-2) went on a 9-0 run.