PHILADELPHIA — For 33 exciting minutes, Jordan Williams and his pumped-up Maryland teammates were better than seventh-ranked Villanova, which had not lost since November.
But all it took were those other seven pesky minutes -- an excruciating second-half stretch for the Terps, who were outscored 19-0 -- to undo all that came before it.
Just like that, Maryland's 12-point lead had vanished into the din created by 17,477 fans at Wells Fargo Center, and Villanova had escaped with a 74-66 victory that was its 11th in a row.
After the lead was lost, Maryland (11-6) had to face that it had again failed to claim what has so far eluded it -- a victory against a nationally ranked opponent that could enhance its prospects of making the NCAA tournament.
"We played at a really good level for about 33 minutes," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "We couldn't do it for 40 minutes. We missed some shots that we had been making."
It was a painful loss because the Terps had seemed well positioned and because it followed earlier single-digit defeats to Duke, Temple, Pittsburgh and Illinois, which are all currently in the Top 25.
"This is probably the toughest one," said senior forward Dino Gregory (10 points, five rebounds). "After the first few, we thought, 'We'll get the next one.' "
Maryland led 59-47 with 9:27 left on a lay-in by Jordan Williams, who emerged from his worst shooting game of the season at Wake Forest to score 25 points on 10-for-14 shooting and collect 14 rebounds. He recorded a double double for the 11th straight game -- one game behind the school record of 12 held by Len Elmore.
"[Williams] is just very, very good," said Villanova coach Jay Wright. "It took three guys to guard him and rebound against him."
Wright said he told his team at halftime: "Look, this guy is singlehandedly killing us."
Maryland said it hoped to convert more perimeter shots to try to spread out Villanova's defense and make it easier for Williams to score in the second half.
But, with Maryland leading by 12, the Terps went cold and Villanova senior guard Corey Fisher (17 points) got hot.
Fisher's 3-pointer cut the deficit to 59-54. Moments later, he tied it at 59 with another 3 with 6:30 left. The Wildcats took a 62-59 lead on a follow shot and free throw by James Bell and never again trailed.
In all, Maryland missed eight shots in a row from 9:08 to 2:13 of the second half. Williams, Cliff Tucker and Pe'Shon Howard missed two each during the stretch, and Adrian Bowie and Terrell Stoglin each missed one.
With each miss, the partisan Villanova crowd turned up the volume.
Trailing 70-64, Maryland's hopes faded for good when Stoglin -- a freshman making his fourth straight start -- missed a 3-pointer with half-a-minute left.
It had seemed like an important game for the Terps, who are still finding their identity after integrating six new players into this season's roster. The importance was evident in the way Tucker pumped his fist after finding Williams in the lane for a lay-up that put Maryland up 59-47. Maryland's bench players jumped up and applauded.
It was evident in Williams' pained look after he was asked afterward why the Terps have not achieved a breakthrough victory against a top team despite coming so close.
"If I knew that, I'd probably be a head coach right now," the player responded.
The loss capped a string of three road games in seven days that began with a seven-point loss to then-undefeated Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"There's no moral victories or anything like that," Gary Williams said. But he said he thought his team could improve from the experience of playing at a high level -- at least for most of the game.
"I thought our players came here with the attitude that we could win the game," the coach said.
jeff.barker@baltsun.com
