Without a lead at the half for the first time since their last meeting with Maryland, the Blue Devils struggled through the second period to take back control Wednesday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
After erasing a 12-point Terrapin lead, the Blue Devils allowed their opponent to go on a 7-0 run. 14th-ranked Duke (22-8, 8-7 in the ACC) stayed with No. 24 Maryland (23-7, 9-6) in the closing minutes, but eventually the team's poor defense and misses on the front end of a pair of one-and-ones doomed the Blue Devils as they fell 85-77.
"[Maryland] played as well against us tonight as anyone has played against us all year," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We did not execute our game plan defensively, and they were better."
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With Duke trailing by five and 2:13 left to play in the game, Terrapin freshman Greivis Vasquez fouled point guard Greg Paulus, sending the sophomore to the line. Although he has been one of the Blue Devils' most reliable free-throw shooters all season, Paulus clanked the first shot off the rim, and Maryland pulled down the rebound.
Duke forced a Terrapin turnover on the other end of the court to keep the score at 73-68. Freshman Gerald Henderson was sent to the line to shoot a one-and-one and like Paulus, missed the front end. Had either made both of their free throws, it would have been a one-possession game.
Moments after the Henderson miss, Maryland's Ekene Ibekwe slammed home a dunk to put the Terrapins up seven and essentially end the Blue Devils' hopes of a victory.
"When you make a mistake against them, they can score on you real quick," Krzyzewski said.
The missed free throws would have had no significance, however, had Duke not rallied after allowing Maryland's six-point halftime lead to double with just over 13 minutes remaining in the game.
Down 12, the Blue Devils went on a 13-2 run over a three-and-a-half minute span to get back in the game. After the two teams traded baskets over the next few minutes, freshman Jon Scheyer corralled a defensive rebound then took the ball the length of the court himself. With his team trailing by three, Scheyer pulled up from just beyond the arc and drilled a three-pointer to knot the game at 64-64.
"We got stops, and we converted on the offensive end," Paulus said about his team erasing the large deficit. "We did a good job getting loose balls and getting out in the passing lanes, and that created for our offense."
The defense, however, could not hold on, and the Terrapins scored 26 points on the Blue Devils in the final 5:12 of the game, giving Maryland a total of 85 points-the highest for any Duke opponent this season.
"We didn't play good enough defense," Paulus said. "We gave up 80-something points, and that's not what we've been doing all year long."
The end of the first half was an indication of the Terrapins high-scoring night.
With just under 80 seconds remaining before halftime, and the game tied at 38 apiece, Vasquez hit an open three moments after Henderson fell to the floor when there was contact between the two players.
Thirty seconds later, the freshman hit another trifecta that sent Maryland into the locker room with a six-point advantage-the team's largest of the opening period.
"We're really disappointed with the way we came out," Scheyer said. "It wasn't like we laid it all out there, and we came up short just by a last bucket or something. We're really disappointed with our overall effort, and that's really inexcusable. We didn't come out with the intensity we needed to to beat a team like Maryland."
The loss sends Duke to 8-7 in ACC play and drops the Blue Devils into sixth place. Maryland sits ahead of Duke in the standings, but since the Terrapins swept the Blue Devils this season, even a Duke win at No. 8 North Carolina Sunday and a Maryland loss to N.C. State will not move the Blue Devils into the fifth spot.
NOTES:
Playing in his final game in Cameron Indoor Stadium, senior walk-on Joe Pagliuca made his third appearance of the season, going in for the final 29 seconds of the game.... Duke finished the season 15-4 at home.... For just the second time this season, Duke had five players score in double figures. The first time was against N.C. State Jan. 20.
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