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Monday, April 2
Williams' 3 signaled beginning of the end for Maryland
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
MINNEAPOLIS -- Jason Williams wasn't hitting his 3-pointer, but he had to hit one. He had to. This is Jason Williams. Remember?
Williams nailed a 3-pointer, only one of his nine to make it through the basket, with 6:43 remaining. The bucket gave Duke its first lead of the game. The shot completed a remarkable comeback from being down 22 at one point in the first half for an eventual 95-84 victory over Maryland in the NCAA Tournament national semifinal Saturday at the Metrodome.
|  | | Shane Battier gives Jason Williams a hug after beating Maryland. |
"You've never got Duke beaten until the final horn sounds," Maryland point Steve Blake said.
And few teams can keep Williams from being a factor.
Williams' 3-point stroke was off all night. He missed four in the first half. But he changed his game and started penetrating and going right at Maryland. His driving layup, which ended with the ball in the bucket and his butt on the floor, gave Duke a 75-74 lead the possession after his trey had given Duke a 73-72 lead and after Maryland had regained the lead.
Duke wouldn't relinquish the lead again.
"We just needed a sense of urgency," Williams said. "Being down 20, we just had to get the lead back to single digits. We just had to take steps. We weren't going to get it back in one shot."
Duke turned into the aggressor after playing a somewhat passive first half. The Blue Devils turned missed layups and missed 3s (2 for 12) in the first 20 minutes into a stellar second half. Williams' 3-pointer came during a second half in which Duke made 53 percent of its shots. Williams' penetration helped create more shots for Carlos Boozer inside, who scored 13 of his 19 points in the second half on 4 of 4 shooting.
"We might have missed 10 layups in the first half," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "I mean, not necessarily just wide-open layups, but things right around the basket. I thought it knocked our guys back."
Duke stretched its lead over the final four minutes with a Shane Battier 3-pointer and a Boozer layup. It helped that Lonny Baxter picked up his fifth foul on a questionable hold call with 2:48 remaining. But the damage had been done.
Williams and Battier were back "on" after poor starts and Maryland was back on its heels.
The Terps had seen this before, blowing a 10-point lead in the final minute against Duke at Cole Field House in January. They beat Duke in Durham, but then lost again in the ACC tournament semifinals.
But this wasn't a Maryland collapse. This was all about a Duke comeback.
"In the second half, they outhustled us and got to the loose balls and we weren't able to keep them off the boards," Maryland's Juan Dixon said.
"Jason Williams is a great player," Maryland's Gary Williams said. "He's going to get his points at some point in the game. Great players usually step up at some critical times. I thought he played well in the second half."
Williams finished with 23 points, two shy of Battier's game-high 25. But he got to the line for 8 of 12 free throws, showing that he can hurt a team as much with his playmaking as he can with his deft 3-point shooting. He combined the two to put away Maryland -- again.
"I knew Duke was going to make a run -- it was only a matter of time," Maryland's Byron Mouton said. "We couldn't match their energy. They're going to hit shots and that was the whole thing with the first half -- we were hitting shots and were giving them just one. We let them get offensive rebounds. Tipping them in let them get momentum."
Especially after Williams finally made a 3-pointer.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
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