Rebounds

COLLEGE PARK - After the final buzzer sounded in Saturday's Class 2A state title game, Lake Clifton guard Aaron Parks immediately dropped to the floor. He remained there, face-down, for several seconds until a teammate yanked him up and coach Herman "Tree" Harried met both with outstretched arms and a huge grin. "We worked so hard all year, and this was just a relief," Parks said. "I just had to collapse. " Parks and the Lakers desperately wanted a state title, and they got their wish.

Randy Edsall wished the wait had been only a few hours. A.J. Francis said it absolutely needed to be a couple of weeks. Ultimately, 105 days' worth of coaching-staff makeovers, recruit welcomes and player departures separated Maryland's bitter final day of the 2011 season and its opening practice of its 2012 calendar Saturday. Receivers dropped passes, defensive ends veered away from unprotected quarterbacks and shoulder pads sat somewhere in an equipment room inside Gossett Football Team House, but the Terps were at least back out playing.

Robert Nwankwo became the first player in Colonial Athletic Association tournament history to score more than 20 points and grab 20 rebounds in a single game, but the Tigers fell to Delaware, 72-65, in opening-round play at the Richmond (Va.) Coliseum on Friday. Towson (1-31) trailed by as many as 18 in the first half, but behind Nwankwo's career-high 27 points and career-high 20 rebounds, the Tigers roared back to tie the game late in the second half. Nwankwo joins Virginia Commonwealth's Larry Sanders as the only player in CAA tournament history to grab 20 rebounds.

Aberdeen's girls basketball team won its first meeting with Digital Harbor at the Basketball Academy in January, but the No. 1 Eagles did not go into Wednesday night's Class 3A North regional semifinal against the No. 7 Rams overconfident. They went in even better prepared. The host Eagles tweaked a few things on both ends of the court, and they executed just as well as in the first meeting to take a 67-41 victory. Aberdeen (24-1) will host the regional final Friday night at 6:30 against either Milford Mill or C. Milton Wright.

Things weren't looking good for the Mount St. Joseph basketball team in Sunday's 41st Baltimore Catholic League title game. Against defending champion John Carroll, a poor first half had the Gaels frustrated and down by nine points. Standout junior guard Kameron Williams already had three fouls at the break and the Patriots' zone defense had the Gaels shooting 33 percent from the field and getting to the foul line just once. Already disappointed with the way the team played in losing to the Patriots in last weekend's Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference title game, Mount St. Joseph coach Pat Clatchey opened up his bag of tricks at the halftime break.

The sixth-ranked Maryland women's basketball team overwhelmed North Carolina from the beginning Friday night, getting contributions from up and down its roster in an 84-64 victory on senior night before an announced 8,029 at Comcast Center. In winning for the third time in a row and for the sixth time in seven games, the Terrapins secured a coveted first-round bye in next week's Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. They got points from nine players, shot 49 percent from the field, held the Tar Heels to 33 percent shooting and outrebounded them 49-32.

The eighth-ranked Maryland women's basketball team recovered from a deflating start Sunday against No. 5 Duke to complete a stirring comeback in the final minute for a 63-61 victory that was the Terps ' most satisfying win this season. An announced Comcast Center crowd of 15,150, the eighth-largest in both Atlantic Coast Conference and school history, rose for the closing moments, when Blue Devils sophomore forward Haley Peters had the ball at the left corner, her team trailing by two. Peters released a 3-point attempt, but Alyssa Thomas swooped in to block the shot at the buzzer, and Maryland celebrated its fifth win in six games and its first over a Top 10 team.

For the first time all season, the No. 1 Aberdeen girls basketball team ran into an opponent Saturday that was as quick as the Eagles and able to challenge 6-foot-3 All-Metro center Bri Jones in the paint. Still, No. 7 Dunbar could not stop the Eagles from finally breaking away in a game that was tied with five minutes to go. Aberdeen, which drifted away from its inside game at times, went back to Jones and forward TK Fowlkes in the end, and the duo combined for 12 of Aberdeen's final 17 points in a 60-48 victory in the Basketball Academy at Lake Clifton.

In Mark Turgeon's fourth and final season coaching Texas A&M, the Aggies ranked 19th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing 60.9 points per game. It was an NCAA tournament-bound team whose hallmarks were defense and rebounding. Among its signature wins was a 63-62 defeat of a nationally ranked Washington team that entered the game leading the nation in scoring. The Huskies shot just 37.7 percent from the field against Turgeon's defense. A year later, those familiar with this history can understand why Turgeon — now at Maryland — sometimes wears a pained expression when discussing the Terps , even though they have won eight of their past nine games.

Coaches are fond of saying that one game is no bigger than another. I don't always believe them. Mark Turgeon conceded tonight what seemed to be true -- that Maryland's win over Wake Forest meant a lot. It wasn't just that it was Maryland's first conference win of the season. It's that if this season is to matter -- if it is to become something -- then the Terps have to begin to define who they are. And when better to do that than in the first ACC contest at Comcast Center? As I said in my updated game story, Turgeon believes his team is playing better - particularly defensively - than earlier in the season and he wants his players' efforts to be validated.