CORAL GABLES, Fla., Feb. 5 -- Throughout a season that has produced stellar highs and crushing lows -- often within days of each other -- Maryland's basketball players have maintained a steady outlook. Saturday's 75-73 overtime loss to Miami, the No. 22 Terrapins' second straight defeat, left them shaken with seven games remaining in the regular season.
This loss stung not just because of what it meant to Maryland's murky NCAA tournament prospects but because of what the Terrapins had almost overcome up to the game's final moments. They had rallied from a nine-point deficit despite a depleted, foul-prone front court. They had made key late-game shots, none bigger than the two free throws Travis Garrison sank with 3.9 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime.
Miami's Guillermo Diaz (27 points) goes up for a shot against Maryland's Will Bowers.
(Wilfredo Lee -- AP)
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But when it mattered most, they couldn't grab one rebound.
Miami's Will Frisby won the game with two free throws with eight-tenths of a second left after catching an air ball under the basket and being fouled by Mike Jones.
Jones said he did not think he committed a foul. Asked about the play, Maryland Coach Gary Williams said: "We should have sent that into a second overtime. No doubt about it. We should have had that rebound."
Instead, the Terrapins fell to 13-7, 4-5 in the ACC, while conference newcomer Miami improved to 14-7, 5-5.
Chris McCray scored 20 of his career-high 23 points after halftime to help rally Maryland. Jones, who scored 14, was the only other Terrapin in double figures.
"The toughest thing we've done this year is try to get all five guys on the same day playing well," Williams said. "It just doesn't seem to happen too often."
On Miami's final offensive play, Williams called for a box-and-one defense in an attempt to have McCray, Maryland's strongest defender, keep the ball out of Guillermo Diaz's hands. The dynamic Diaz scored a game-high 27 points and nearly won the game with a 30-footer at the end of regulation, but he released the shot just after time expired.
At the end of overtime, the ball instead went to guard Robert Hite, who air-balled a mid-range jumper with two seconds remaining; the ball fell in the hands of Frisby, who was fouled as the buzzer sounded. After reviewing the play for nearly two minutes, officials determined there were eight-tenths of a second remaining when the foul occurred.
While standing at the free throw line, Frisby said he wasn't nervous.
Asked what he was thinking, Frisby said, "These [shots] are good."
Miami Coach Frank Haith told Frisby to purposely miss the second free throw to not give Maryland a good look at a potential winning shot. Frisby didn't follow instructions, making the second. Nik Caner-Medley inbounded the ball deep down the sideline to McCray, who attempted a decent shot from three-point range that was off the mark.
Another officiating call with 13.9 seconds left in overtime had a dramatic effect on the outcome. Caner-Medley was whistled for a charge after driving the baseline, colliding with Frisby near the basket and making the shot.
