ATLANTA -Before entering the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, the Maryland Terrapins decided their magic number was two.
Two wins to gain serious consideration for the NCAA tournament that they have missed three of the past four seasons. Two wins to prove - again - that they could compete with the ACC elite. Maryland fans even began sporting T-shirts with "two" on them.
Last night, Maryland got the deuce it had been looking for. Against a larger, favored team in a season in which little was expected of them, the Terrapins willed their way into the tournament semifinals with a 75-64 victory over No. 8 Wake Forest.
"Pull out the 'Win three' T-shirts now," a relieved-looking Maryland coach Gary Williams joked afterward. "I've got them in my room."
With the win, Maryland advanced to the tournament semifinals for the first time since winning the tournament in 2004. The Terps will play No. 9 Duke, which beat Boston College, 66-65, last night, at 4 p.m. today.
Williams wouldn't speculate about Maryland's NCAA chances but said the Terps had built a solid case. "We had some good wins before today," he said.
The Terps needed a good run after losing their final regular-season game to unheralded Virginia.
Maryland fans chanted, "Gary, Gary," in tribute to Williams in the final moments. When the game was over, Dave Neal and Landon Milbourne chest-bumped and Greivis Vasquez, who scored a game-high 22 points, held one finger aloft to the Georgia Dome crowd.
Maryland, the tournament's seventh seed, won by converging inside and trapping on defense against Wake Forest, the second seed.
Through it all, the Terps (20-12) were playing like an excited team caught up in the moment.
"I'm having fun," Vasquez shouted toward the stands after being fouled with the Terps ahead 34-29 in the final moments of the first half. He made two free throws.
Wake Forest (24-6), by comparison, looked pressured and tight.
Jeff Teague, who entered averaging 19.4 points, shot 0-for-6 in the first half and finished with 11 points. Teague and the other Demon Deacons looked confused against Maryland's sagging defense, which seemed to dare them to shoot the three. Wake went 3-for-25 from beyond the arc.
Maryland dominated on the boards in the teams' first meeting and out-rebounded Wake 44-40 last night. Milbourne grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds.
