Nine Points

Maryland's Steve Blake recorded one of the quietest games of his young collegiate career. But more importantly, so did Iowa's Dean Oliver, compliments of Blake.The Terrapins freshman held Oliver scoreless for nearly the first 17 minutes of the game and limited the Hawkeyes' leading scorer to nine points, half his average. Oliver, considered the third-best point guard in the Big Ten, missed eight of 10 shots and finished with his worst scoring output of the season."When you have a good point guard on the other team, it's your job to shut him down," Blake said.

COLLEGE PARK -- This time, the Maryland basketball team defended its home turf with authority. But guess which Terrapins stepped up to the challenge?After two lackluster efforts against area rivals, the No. 14 Terrapins called on their bench to reverse another flat start and it propelled Maryland to an 82-52 victory over UMBC in front of an announced crowd of 14,500 at Cole Field House last night.The Terps' thin bench proved to be a major splinter to the Retrievers, providing nine points in a 15-2 run midway through the first half that revived their starters and put UMBC away early.

Playing on hurting legs and without All-Metro point guard Derrick Snowden down the stretch, top-ranked Archbishop Spalding escaped last night with a 46-44 victory over No. 8 McDonogh, which played without 6-foot-5 standout David Lunn.In a rarity for him, Snowden (nine points) fouled out on a touch violation with 2: 29 remaining and his team leading 45-41. Host Spalding (6-3) built three seven-point leads in the third period, but for most of the game, the margin was less than four.With their top player, Lunn, a second-team All-Metro forward last season, in street clothes, the visiting Eagles (5-4)

James Lowe hit two free throws with five seconds left last night to give No. 18-ranked Northern an 84-83 upset win over No. 7 Mervo in City League action.The win was the seventh in eight games for the visiting Vikings (13-7).They led 42-38 at halftime, but the Mustangs closed the gap and took their final lead, 83-82, with 15 seconds left, setting the stage for Lowe. He finished with 21 points.Northern's Michael Scott led all scorers with 22 points. Mervo was led by junior guard Marcus Hatten's 21 points.

Glenelg's Eric Breland had one thought in mind with his team trailing by eight points and three minutes to play against Wilde Lake yesterday."I just didn't want to lose two games in a row, so I guess I played better than usual," he said.The 6-foot-4, 235-pound sophomore, who averages 16 points and eight rebounds, indeed played far better than usual. He scored a career-high 29 points and had 12 rebounds, leading the second-place Gladiators to a 73-72 victory at Glenelg. The win kept Glenelg (12-3 overall, 8-3 league)

The second quarter wasn't perfect for St. Mary's yesterday -- but it was close.That's when the No. 3-ranked Saints started hitting on all cylinders, and the eventual result in Annapolis was a comfortable 77-47 win over No. 13 St. Frances.In the second quarter, the Saints shot 9-for-17 from the field and limited the Panthers to three field goals while forcing eight turnovers -- eight spectacular minutes.A five-point lead after the first period quickly turned into a 40-22 halftime lead, and the Saints never looked back in improving to 15-6 and remaining perfect in Catholic League play at 7-0. The Panthers fell to 13-6 overall, 3-3 in the league.

Carroll Christian Patriots1997-98 record: 16-15Coach: Matt ReisbergTop players: Leigh Ann Belcher, Sr., 5-5, F; Crystal Dixon, Soph., 5-8, F; Katie Kirk, Jr., 5-3, G; Ashley Pickett, Soph., 5-0, G; Julie Wike, Sr., 6-1, COutlook: First-year coach Reisberg, who moved up after a stint ++ as an assistant, finds himself in an unusual situation -- having a terrible time deciding who will start. It wasn't much of a problem in Monday's opener, a 69-18 romp over Montrose, and for the long haul, he figures he doesn't lose anything in going nine deep among the 14 on the squad.

Now the Ravens face an even bigger test, a team picked by many to reach the Super Bowl, a team this franchise has never defeated, not in Cleveland, not in Baltimore.Beating the New York Jets on the road was one thing.But can the Monsters of the Meadowlands win at Heartbreak Alltel?The Ravens have lost four times to Jacksonville by a combined nine points -- six times by a combined 20 points if you include their 1995 season as the Browns.They've made Rob Johnson a millionaire, blown double-digit leads, even tripped over each other's legs.

Even though Westminster split the first two games last night at No. 11-ranked North Carroll, the Owls dominated for long stretches. Westminster continued to control the match in the third game, jumping out to a 13-4 lead.But something happened at that point. The Panthers began chipping away, pulled even, and despite losing that game, grabbed the match's momentum.Kate Wall sparked the team with 15 kills as North Carroll rebounded to score 40 of the final 54 points for a come-from-behind 4-15, 15-10, 14-16, 15-4, 15-7 win over Westminster.

When Carver coach Durce Jackson says of his Bears, "we're a good team," you have to look beyond the fact that he only has one senior -- who does not start -- on a squad with an 8-13 record.And you still might think it's a stretch.But there's at least one more believer, Broadneck coach Ken Kazmarek, after watching the Bears whip his visiting Bruins, 76-54, yesterday in a Class 3A East quarterfinal."We scouted them. We didn't underestimate them at all. You don't underestimate a Baltimore City team," said Kazmarek, whose Bruins finish 13-11.

Lewis Clinch scored a career-high 32 points yesterday and last-place Georgia Tech (12-18) pulled off the first upset of the ACC tournament, beating No. 17 Clemson (23-8), 86-81, in the opening round yesterday in Atlanta. Virginia Tech 65, Miami 47: : The Hokies broke open a close game with a 14-0 run in the second half and beat the Hurricanes. Miami's Jack McClinton (Calvert Hall), who scored a season-low nine points, said, "I just had a bad game." Boston College 76, Virginia 63: : Rakim Sanders scored 25 points and the Eagles (22-10)

Paul Harris had 18 points and 11 rebounds, Jonny Flynn scored 18 points and Syracuse beat No. 17 Florida, 89-83, last night in the semifinals of the CBE Classic in Kansas City, Mo. Syracuse (4-0) shot 51 percent from the field and had 19 assists on 31 field goals, taking control with a big run early in the second half. Andy Rautins hit five three-pointers and had 15 points - all in the first half. Arinze Onuaku added 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Kris Joseph had 10 points for the Orange.

With six players scoring nine or more points and solid team defense, the Long Reach boys basketball team came away with a key 63-38 win over visiting Marriotts Ridge in Howard County play last night. Long Reach (19-2) improved to 15-2 in league play and would be assured a spot in Tuesday's county championship game with a win over River Hill today. Marriotts Ridge (18-4) finished the regular season with a 15-3 county mark, still in the hunt for a berth in the title game. Atholton (18-4, 16-2)

College Park -- Fifth-ranked Glen Burnie struggled mightily shooting the ball and fell in the state semifinals for the third time in the past five years, losing to Sherwood, 58-44, last night at Comcast Center. The Warriors controlled the game from the beginning and never trailed, as the Gophers' comeback attempt ran out of steam in the fourth quarter. The 44 points were a season low for Glen Burnie. At the beginning of the final quarter, the Gophers trimmed the lead to six, which was the closest they had been since the first quarter.

The No. 14 Fallston girls and the Aberdeen boys had little trouble repeating as Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference champions last night. Fallston took charge early and locked up a third consecutive UCBAC title with a 57-37 victory over North East-Cecil at Harford Community College. Aberdeen had a harder time but pulled away late for a 63-47 win over Perryville and its fourth straight boys conference crown. The Fallston girls used presses and traps to shut down in the North East-Cecil offense throughout their victory.

John Carroll looked sluggish throughout the first half of yesterday's game with Edmondson. The Patriots often played inconsistently until Isaiah Philmore helped turn things around - almost by himself. Philmore scored a game-high 25 points and sparked a mid-game run that helped No. 13 John Carroll take command, and the Patriots rolled to a 74-63 victory over Edmondson at the Aberdeen Tip-Off Mixer. The 6-foot-6 sophomore scored 10 of his points during a 14-0 run that gave John Carroll (8-1)

In a game of surges, host Old Mill came up with the last one to beat Annapolis, 61-54, last night in Anne Arundel County boys basketball. The No. 10-ranked Patriots (8-1) finished with a 5-0 run after the No. 13 Panthers (6-4) missed a three-point try that would have put them within two points with 30 seconds remaining. Senior point guard Andrew Engel, who had a game-high 21 points, made two of the last five from the line. Nine of his points came in the last 5 1/2 minutes. The game was a contrast in offense as 6-foot-6 forward Derek Harris added 15 points for Old Mill, which shot 40 percent from the floor (20-for-50)

Before last night's state Class 3A girls basketball final, Milford Mill's Tammy Rogers walked over to teammate Shawn Scott and gave her a familiar pep talk. "I tell her every game, we haven't been playing together for seven years to lose our last game. We've been waiting for this since we were 10," said Rogers. The former rec and club teammates led a small but aggressive backcourt defense and forward Chelsea Jeter came within one steal of a triple double as the Millers finally took home the championship in their eighth trip to the state tournament and seventh trip to the final Scott had 22 points and Jeter added 17 points, 11 rebounds and nine steals to lead the No. 6 Millers over Paint Branch, 57-48, before a crowd of about 3,300 at UMBC's RAC Arena.

Janine Luber made six free throws in the final 70 seconds to help host C. Milton Wright rally for a 51-46 victory over Fallston in an Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference game last night. The win moved the Mustangs (18-3, 10-2) into first place in the Chesapeake Division, but it was their last regular-season game. Fallston (18-3, 9-2) has one game left, Friday at Rising Sun. If the Cougars win and move into a tie with C.M. Wright, they would win the tiebreaker and advance to next Wednesday's UCBAC championship game, but a Fallston loss would give the Mustangs the division title.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- When they boarded a plane in North Carolina three days earlier, just hours removed from a disastrous 34-point loss to the No. 3 Tar Heels, the Maryland Terrapins were humbled, embarrassed and even a little shell-shocked. It's pretty likely that some of those feelings lingered on the Terps' trip back to College Park this morning. With most of their starters again falling flat against one of the nation's elite teams and an Atlantic Coast Conference foe, and with their top scorer playing just nine minutes, the Terps were handled last night by fourth-ranked Wake Forest, 81-66, before 14,665 at the Lawrence Joel Coliseum.