WRAL Sports Fan

North Carolina State University

Vasquez leads Maryland past State, angers Pack in the process

By Emily Seck

Mar 2, 2009

Somebody forgot to guard Greivis Vasquez. Granted, the game was over, but that didn’t stop Maryland’s guard.

Though the Terrapins were ahead by eight points, and everybody else on the court had stopped playing, Vasquez still took a three-point shot anyway. And he was promptly met with a round of boos from the crowd at the RBC Center.

It didn’t sit well with the fans and the players didn’t appreciate either.

“That was pretty disrespectful,” said guard Javier Gonzalez, who ended the game with 11 points. “Where I’m from we don’t do that. He shot and made it, that’s whatever. They won any way so it didn’t really matter. I guess he was trying to pad his stats.”

Vasquez gave the Wolfpack problems all night, carrying his Maryland team to a 71-60 victory over State. He finished with 33 points, his second-highest total of the season.

Though the Pack suffered a double-digit loss, it kept the game within reach the entire night. The final margin of victory, 11 points, was Terrapins’ biggest lead of the evening.

Turnovers have been State’s achilles' heel all season and this game was no different. The Pack committed 16 turnovers, many of which were the result of poor passing.

Ben McCauley was baffled at the Pack’s “careless passes” and said that some players “didn’t show up to play.”

“To come out and play the way we did, I just don’t understand it,” said McCauley, who finished with 10 points. “We didn’t have the full team out there. Some of us were battling but we just threw it right into their hands.”

Brandon Costner ended the game with six points and didn’t start the second half. Costner didn’t attend practice yesterday in order to attend his grandfather’s funeral.

“I don’t know if he’s been in it mentally,” coach Sidney Lowe said. “That certainly has something to do with it. I don’t know if that’s the reason or an excuse, but we need him.”

Despite the loss, there were some bright spots for the Pack’s offense.

Tracy Smith provided the firepower in the first half, leading the team with 12 points, including three crowd-igniting dunks within the first ten minutes. He almost single-handedly helped State to its only lead, midway through the second half, despite being double and triple-teamed.

He finished with a team-leading 19 points.

“Tracy was playing so well he was scoring every time he got the ball,” McCauley said. “Sometimes guys on the outside weren’t even looking inside. When he got double-teamed he could’ve kicked it out. I really don’t know what some guys were thinking.”

The loss drops the Pack to 5-9 in the ACC and 15-12 overall. Maryland improves to 18-10 and 7-7 in conference play.

Vasquez got the final word Sunday night, but Lowe wasn’t upset about it. He was just disappointed that State allowed it to happen.

“There have been few games where I’ve gone to the locker room and didn’t think we played as well and we could have,” he said. “You defend until the game is over. You don’t forget it, but you play until the buzzer rings. What bothers me more is that we weren’t with him. That bothers me more.”