From Staff Reports
Associated Press
—
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPOKANE, Wash. — Jordan Williams picked a good time to break out of his recent slump.
The freshman forward set career highs with 21 points and 17 rebounds, and Maryland beat Houston 89-77 in the first round of the NCAA tournament’s Midwest Regional on Friday night.
Williams, held to seven points in each of his past two games, carried the fourth-seeded Terrapins (24-8) into Sunday’s second-round game against fifth-seeded Michigan State (25-8), a 70-67 winner over New Mexico State.
Greivis Vasquez, the ACC player of the year, said Maryland’s plan was to go to Williams, his roommate.
“That was the game plan — inside out,” Vasquez said. “He’s only a freshman. In two, three years, he’s going to be GOOD.”
Williams was pretty good Friday night, shooting 9 of 14 from the field and adding a blocked shot. Landon Milbourne scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Vasquez had just four points in the first half, but finished with 16 on 5-of-13 shooting. He added seven rebounds and six assists.
Williams said he benefited from a team effort.
“I think my teammates did a good job of getting me the ball and Greivis is a good player, so he draws a lot of attention from the other team,” he said.
Aubrey Coleman, the nation’s leading scorer, had 26 points for 13th-seeded Houston (19-16). The senior averaged 25.6 points per game this season.
“I think I played great,” he said. “I think it was free throws and a couple of calls that they got and that’s the game.”
Kelvin Lewis added 24 points for Houston, 17 in the second half. Coleman was held to 10 after halftime and went 11 minutes without scoring.
“We just tried to slow him up a little bit, try not to let him penetrate as much,” Maryland’s Sean Mosley said. “He was getting into the lane too easily.”
Maryland overpowered the Cougars 50-29 on the boards and held them to 41 percent shooting while winning its 10th consecutive first-round game.
“Before every game my goal is to try to get every rebound,” Williams said. “I know I’m not going to do that, but just to put that mindset in your head it helps out a lot.”
Houston also was hurt by 20-of-32 shooting from the free throw line.
The Terrapins made 21 of 25 free throws, which helped keep Houston from making a run in the second half.
Maryland has been to the NCAA tournament eight times since the turn of the century. This was Houston’s first appearance since 1992, but the Cougars were upbeat after their surprising postseason run ended.
“We made history,” Coleman said. “There is going to be a banner with our name on it. And we got the University of Houston back on the map.”
