Terps turn on defense in win

Sometimes, the dividends of a stifling pressure defense aren’t tangible. There might be some turnovers and a few easy baskets, but the real payoff might not happen until later in the game.

Such was the case for No. 23 Maryland at Comcast Center last night, when Minnesota — and coach Dan Monson — broke down in the second half as the Terrapins rallied for an 83-66 victory in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Travis Garrison posted a double-double (18 points, 10 rebounds) in his first start of the season, and Nik Caner-Medley added 16 points for the Terps in a game that no doubt will be remembered for Monson’s bombastic ejection rather than Maryland’s rally from yet another slow start and a 15-point first-half deficit.

“I knew we could get [the intensity] up. It was just a matter of when,” Garrison said.

The Terps (5-1) scored 29 points off turnovers, won their fourth straight and improved to 4-3 in the seven-year history of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Garrison was pressed into the starting lineup because usual starters Ekene Ibekwe and James Gist both were ailing with stomach viruses. Though Ibekwe and Gist played 15 minutes each, Garrison responded with an array of jumpers and drives to the basket, working his way to the foul line for 10 free throws.

The senior also provided a defensive anchor inside for Maryland, which was bullied into an early 21-8 rebounding deficit before almost evenly splitting the boards in the second half.

“I was proud of Travis Garrison. I thought he played every play hard and did everything he could to get us going when we weren’t going in the first half,” coach Gary Williams said. “He was outstanding. He got over 30 minutes tonight, and he earned every one.”

Garrison’s most pivotal points might have come on his steal of an inbounds pass and ensuing layup that followed D.J. Strawberry’s three-point play and put the Terps up 48-43. Monson frantically sought a timeout, yelling at the officials as barged onto the floor.

Already assured a technical foul for his hardwood incursion, Monson produced a fiery tirade, tossing his sports coat to clinch his first ejection in nine seasons as a coach, the last seven spent at Minnesota. Maryland’s Chris McCray made three of four free throws to continue what became a 20-2 Terps run.

“I tell my team you have to fight, but you have to do it with composure,” Monson said. “I apologized to the three officials after the game and to my team. I feel like when they needed me to fight the most, I wasn’t there.”

Minnesota had little fight left by the end, a product more of the Terps’ sweltering pressure than a lack of effort. Already short-handed because of the absence of star swingman Vincent Grier, the Golden Gophers (2-2) played without guard Maurice Hargrow in the second half and finished with 22 turnovers.

It was apparent quickly Maryland would make a second-half push after trailing 26-11 in the first half and 42-36 at the break. Strawberry, who like many of his teammates was sluggish in the first half, opened the half by feeding Ibekwe for a dunk and then excitedly celebrating the basket on his way back down the court.

“We were the better team today, and we didn’t show it in the first half,” said Strawberry, who finished with 14 points, five assists, four steals and a turnover. “I just wanted to go out and pound them right away, and that first play I think really took a lot out of them.”

Williams conceded the first-half hole might have proved too deep for the Terps to rally from last year, and he’s probably right. These Terps already have displayed an aptitude for recovering from slow starts, and they came back from a 3-for-13 start from the floor to make 21 of its next 36 field goals.

It also helped that the Terps won the war of attrition, wearing down a Minnesota team that used a seven-man rotation for much of the second half, battled foul trouble and watched its sizzling 58.6 percent first-half shooting fade to 25 percent after the break.

“We really had more in the tank down the stretch,” Caner-Medley said. “We kept playing hard, kept pressing, kept taking care of the ball and forcing turnovers. They came out hot. They came out making all those shots. It wasn’t bad defense; they hit good shots. We withstood that, came out in the second half and put them away.”