The greatest college game ever?
And I found the box score to go with it. I know what I was doing in March 9, 1974. I was stationed right in front of my television set. Can’t swear to it but I doubt I took a restroom break. Now the experts say there was not one single turnover in regulation. That sounds amazing.
Let’s set the table again. 7-foot-4 Tommy Burleson and super small guard Monte Towe. The future Baltimore Orioles fireballer Tim Stoddard, at power forward. Also playing for NC State that night was guard Mo Rivers, forward Phil Spence and of course the superstar David Thompson.
Maryland countered with 6-11 Tom McMillen, 6-9 Lenny Elmore, guards John Lucas and Mo Howard and forward Owen Brown.
Yes, it’s the 103-100 overtime loss to NC State. Maryland shot 62 percent from the floor and lost. Burleson went nuts and scored 38 points. Thompson had an off night and still scored 29 points. Towe added 17 points.
Maryland had better balance. McMillan and Howard both tallied 22 points. Elmore and Lucas tallied 18 points each. Brown checked in with 14 points. I think I cried when this ACC final was over.
Now on to the present club. No McMillans nor Elmores on this present team. These Terps are 11-8 on the season which won’t excite anyone. But the win over Notre Dame on Jan. 15 was impressive. Hey, the Irish have the same record as the Terps have but they also have a win over Duke.
In the 74-66 win over Notre Dame, the Terps had a big second half to erase a 9-point halftime deficit. Dez Wells scored all of his 17 points in the second half. Seth Allen added 14 points.
So you might think Maryland would get some momentum heading to the NC State game. And this team doesn’t have any David Thompson’s either. Well, they had some momentum in the first half.
And in this contest, Maryland got off to a good start. We had a 29-20 lead at the break. And that was quite the accomplishment after digging a quick 7-0 hole. Jake Layman’s 3-pointer closed the first half.
We still had the lead with nine minutes to play.
It won’t get an easier when 20th ranked Pittsburgh comes to town on Saturday. The last time these teams met, on Jan. 6, Maryland lost by 20.
