Maryland Is Tough From Word ‘Go’

Steve Francis, Terence Morris and the rest of the Maryland Terrapins could hardly wait to move on.

Frenetic on offense, relentless on defense, Maryland reached the round of 16 for the fourth time in six years, beating Creighton 75-63 on Saturday in the South Regional.

With animated coach Gary Williams shouting “Go! Go! Go!” at his players the whole game, they responded. The No. 2-seeded Terrapins built a big lead and were never threatened.

Francis, the high-flying guard, had 18 points and 13 rebounds while Morris, the hard-working forward, scored 20 as the Terrapins (28-5) set a school record for victories.

“It was a good win for us,” Williams said. “We got a little sloppy at the end, but we’re really happy to be going to the next round.”

Maryland (28-5) plays No. 3-seeded St. John’s (27-8) in the round of 16 Thursday at Knoxville, Tenn. St. John’s advanced by handing Indiana its most lopsided loss in NCAA tournament history, 86-61.

“If you’re going to beat a St. John’s, you’re to have to do it for the whole game,” Williams said.

Rodney Buford had 13 points in becoming the leading scorer in Creighton history, and Ben Walker had 15.

No. 10-seeded Creighton (22-9) managed to cut a 21-point deficit in the second half to 10 with five minutes left, then missed three shots and never got closer.

“We got ourselves in a bad hole,” Creighton Coach Dana Altman said. “We had some good looks early that we just didn’t knock down.”

This was the second time the schools played. Maryland bounced Creighton from the 1975 NCAA tournament, 83-79. Billy Hahn, a reserve guard on that Maryland team and now one of Williams’ assistants, also screamed at the Terrapins to hurry up and down the court.

Maryland broke away from Creighton with a 14-0 burst late in the first half and took a 45-32 halftime lead.

Buford, hampered by foul trouble, made a three-point shot at the halftime buzzer. The senior swingman finished with 2,116 points, topping Bob Harstad’s total of 2,110 from 1987-91.

“I didn’t know anything about, I didn’t care about it,” Buford said. “I just wanted to win. I wish I had another game left.”

Francis made the game’s most spectacular play midway through the second half when, after dribbling between his legs, he split two defenders and made a reverse layup.

Forced to leave the game a few moments later after accidentally biting his tongue, Francis returned three minutes later and made a three-point basket that made it 62-41.