COLLEGE PARK, Md. (Jan. 6, AP) — Juan Dixon scored a season-high 28 points as No. 17 Maryland built a big first half lead to hold off Georgia Tech 93-80 on Saturday.
| Maryland’s Steve Blake (25) fights for the loose ball against Shaun Fein during the first half. (AP Photo/Nick Wass) |
Terence Morris had his first double-double of the season with 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Terrapins, who have won eight of the last nine meetings with the Yellow Jackets.
All nine players who saw action scored at least four points for Maryland (11-3, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), which is riding a 10-game winning streak.
Tony Akins scored 20 points while Alvin Jones had 15 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks for Georgia Tech (8-5, 0-2).
Dixon made 11 of 11 free throws and also had eight steals, one shy of a Maryland record. Danny Miller had 10 points for Maryland, which ended a school-record streak of four-straight games scoring 100 points.
Six different players scored as Maryland took control with an impressive 18-0 run during a five-minute span of the first half.
Maryland led 19-15 when Drew Nicholas started the blitz with a pull-up jumper at the 12:14 mark. Dixon’s layup off a turnover 4:46 later gave Maryland a commanding 37-15 advantage.
Georgia Tech missed five shots and committed four turnovers during the run, which featured a spectacular follow dunk by Maryland freshman Chris Wilcox.
Akins was the catalyst as Georgia Tech outscored Maryland 15-2 in the opening 5:28 of the second half to get within 55-49. The Terrapins committed five turnovers and did not score a field goal during the drought, which enabled the Yellow Jackets to get within six points for the first time since the 15:07 mark of the first half.
Morris came to the rescue, scoring seven straight points to help Maryland push the lead back to 72-57 with 9:11 remaining.
It was back-and-forth the rest of the way with the Yellow Jackets never getting closer than 12 points.
Darryl LaBarrie scored a career-high 15 points for Georgia Tech, which was out-rebounded 46-32 and committed 20 turnovers.
Jones outplayed Baxter on both ends, using his three-inch size advantage to prevent the Maryland center from scoring inside. Baxter was held to seven points — his lowest output in more than a year — and got in foul trouble trying to defend Jones.
