B.C.'s 2nd half powders Terps

January 27, 2009|By DAVID GINSBURG

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Rakim Sanders and Corey Raji fueled a second-half comeback that carried resurgent Boston College past Maryland 76-67 on Tuesday night.

Sanders scored 11 of his 16 points after halftime to help the Eagles (16-6, 4-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) win their third straight following a four-game skid. Raji finished with nine points, all in the second half.

Greivis Vasquez scored 18 for Maryland (13-7, 2-4), which has lost four of five. Seeking to bounce back from a 41-point loss to Duke on Saturday, the Terrapins took a 16-point lead in the first half. But the Terrapins went 11-for-37 from the floor in the second half and scored only 27 points.

Boston College won despite getting only 10 points from leading scorer Tyrese Rice, who had two points on 1-for-3 shooting before getting his third foul with 6:26 left in the first half. The score was tied at 59 before Reggie Jackson and Sanders made successive layups to put the Eagles up by four. After Maryland closed to 64-63, Sanders scored on a tip-in and Joe Trapani added a layup to help the Eagles pull away.

Boston College used a 9-2 spree early in the second half to close to 44-38. Maryland upped the margin back to 10, but Jackson scored five straight points in a 7-1 spurt that got the Eagles within four.

Minutes later, two straight baskets by Raji gave Boston College its first lead, 55-54 with 6:59 to go.

Maryland outrebounded the Eagles 23-13 in going up 40-29 at halftime.

Eager to quickly eradicate the memory of the Duke debacle, the Terrapins jumped to a 12-6 lead while holding Boston College to 3-for-12 shooting. It was 12-9 before Vasquez hit a 3-pointer, Landon Milbourne followed with a 16-footer and Adrian Bowie sank a layup for a 10-point cushion.

After shooting 28 percent against the Blue Devils, Maryland started 11-for-17 (65 percent) against Boston College. It was 31-22 before Sean Mosley sandwiched a pair of layups around a 3-pointer by Vasquez to put the Terps ahead by 16.

The Eagles went 5-for-8 from 3-point range in the first half and 6-for-21 within the arc.

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