Saturday Matinee

UNC v Maryland, February 13, 1999

Cole Field House, Section RS Row 1

My old college buddy was coaching at Maryland and hooked me up with a ticket. The student newspaper had a front page article claiming scalpers were asking $1500 per ticket.

I have never been inside Cole Field House. After the experience I can only imagine it was a notch below a Cameron Indoor or Palestra.

Steve Francis scored 22 points and No. 7 Maryland completed a rare sweep of North Carolina by forcing 25 turnovers Saturday in an 81-64 rout of the 12th-ranked Tar Heels.

Terence Morris had 14 points and nine rebounds and Laron Profit scored 15 for the Terrapins, who solidified their hold on second place in the Atlantic Coast Conference with their third straight win, the second since losing center Obinna Ekezie for the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon.

Maryland (22-4, 10-3) caused 16 turnovers in the first half and never trailed over the final 24 minutes in recording their first regular-season sweep of North Carolina in nine years. It matched Maryland's most lopsided home win over the Tar Heels since a 17-point win in 1962.

Ademola Okulaja scored 15 and Brendan Haywood 13 for North Carolina (19-7, 9-5). The Tar Heels' 25 turnovers were a season-high.

The Terrapins, who beat UNC on the road last month, became the first ACC team to defeat the Tar Heels twice in the regular season since Georgia Tech in 1993-94. It's also the first time in school history that Maryland has swept both North Carolina and North Carolina State in the same season.

Maryland led 56-51 before Morris hit a jumper and Francis scored on a follow. After a basket by Carolina's Vasco Evtimov, Francis hit a 3-pointer to start a 9-2 run that made it 69-55 with 7:09 left.

The Tar Heels never made a run after that.

Maryland thrilled the sellout crowd of 14,500 by forcing seven turnovers in the opening five minutes and scoring 10 straight points to go up 14-4.

North Carolina called a timeout, settled down and immediately went on a 7-0 run. The Tar Heels then took a 20-18 lead on six straight points by Okulaja, including a free throw following a technical foul on Maryland coach Gary Williams.

Down 26-25, Maryland outscored North Carolina 12-2 over a five-minute stretch and led 37-32 at halftime.