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EA Engineering, Science and Technology Inc. of Hunt Valley has completed a stock buyback to take the company private under the control of its founder and chief executive. EA first announced in 2001 that it had teamed with the Louis Berger Group Inc. of East Orange, N.J., in a $9.3 million deal to transfer ownership to private investors. The stock buyback was completed earlier this month and the deal has been sealed, investors from both companies said yesterday. Loren D. Jensen, EA chairman and chief executive officer, and his family now own 51 percent of EA, and Louis Berger Group bought the remaining 49 percent.

Perhaps one Ring is enough to rule them all, but apparently it takes two video games to enthrall Lord of the Rings fans. Electronics Arts' The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ($49, ages 13 and up) for the Sony PlayStation 2 encompasses the first two books of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy epic. Actually, the game encompasses the first two movies in the trilogy, which in turn generally cover the first two books. It's complicated, but I'll explain in a minute. The EA game opens superbly, replaying the opening footage of the Fellowship of the Ring movie and then segueing seamlessly into the battle sequence at the foot of Mount Doom.

COLLEGE PARK - The Maryland Terrapins got a little more comfortable in their new house last night, at the expense of an opponent that was equally sloppy and tired. And after the Terps worked through some slipshod moments of their own, their fresh legs, depth and large bodies took over at Comcast Center, where an announced crowd of 17,357 watched Maryland destroy the EA Sports All-Stars, 95-60, in its exhibition finale. The Terps now will look to their long-awaited regular-season opener against visiting Miami (Ohio)

Exhibition opponent: EA Sports All-Stars Site: Comcast Center, College Park When:Tuesday, 8 p.m. TV/Radio:Comcast SportsNet/WBAL (1090 AM)

Interested in spending Halloween with a new work from Edgar Allan Poe? Impossible? Well, yeah. Unless you're willing to let your imagination run free. That's what Baltimoreans Jonathon Scott Fuqua, Steven Parke and Stephen John Phillips did, and the result is In The Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe, a 92-page graphic novel published recently by Vertigo, the adult arm of DC Comics. Taking the form of an unpublished journal written by Poe that spans nearly his entire career as a published writer, Shadow posits a man whose talents were either a curse (in the form of the ghost of his late father, who serves as his unwelcome muse)

Remember the days when Mike Tyson would climb into the ring and knock out some scrub in the first round? Well, you'll wish you had Tyson's power when you go up against the pugilistic superstars in EA Sports' Knockout Kings 2002 ($50). This console boxing game for the Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2 is fast and furious enough to be a solid simulation of sport's most violent contest (Pro wrestling's not a sport, folks.) Yet, it suffers from a few minor flaws that keep it from being the greatest.

COLLEGE PARK - The sights looked familiar at Cole Field House last night. Guard Juan Dixon's shot was deadly. Point guard Steve Blake broke down the opposing defense repeatedly and found the open man. Center Lonny Baxter was his old, burly self in the paint. Forward Chris Wilcox rattled the rim with a handful of dunks. And after disposing of the EA Sports All-Stars, 98-80, in its exhibition opener before an announced crowd of 10,612, Maryland must deal with the unfamiliar. On Thursday, the Terps, ranked in the top three in numerous preseason polls and intent on returning to the Final Four, will open their real season at the earliest date in school history by facing Arizona in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York.

A group led by the president and chief executive of EA Engineering, Science and Technology Inc. of Hunt Valley reached an agreement yesterday to acquire the troubled environmental services company and take it private in a deal worth $9.3 million. Under the agreement, Loren D. Jensen, EA's president and chief executive, and the Louis Berger Group Inc., a New Jersey international engineering firm, are offering $1.60 a share through their investment group, EA Engineering Holdings LLC. News of the pending acquisition sent the company's shares up 47 percent, or 50 cents, to close at $1.56 on the Nasdaq small-cap market - more than double their 52-week low of 69 cents.

The hiss of the skates, and the thwack of the sticks. The glare off the ice and the din of the crowd. If you long for the sights, sounds and action of hockey in a big-league arena, why wait for the next home game? It's possible to experience the same prolonged adrenalin rush that builds over three periods of fast-paced hockey by loading a game into your PlayStation 2. The big contenders this year are EA Sports' "NHL 2001" and 989 Sports' "NHL FaceOff 2001." Each sells for $50. The games' developers have brought their old franchises onto a new system, carrying with them a tradition of quality NHL simulation games.

EA Engineering, Science and Technology Inc., a Hunt Valley-based environmental consulting company, reported its first annual profit in five years yesterday despite a loss in the final quarter. The company posted a profit of $227,200 for fiscal 2000, compared with a net loss of $1.5 million in 1999. On a per-share basis, it made 4 cents, compared with a loss of 23 cents a year earlier. Revenue was $60.9 million, up 25 percent from $48.7 million in fiscal 1999. EA blamed increased operating costs for the hit it took in its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended Aug. 31, posting a loss of $96,500, or 2 cents a share, compared with a profit of $278,400, or 4 cents a share, reported for the comparable period last year.