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Maryland 83, Duke 81

By David Driver, The Sports Xchange

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Maryland did it again, but this time Gary Williams was not sitting on the bench.

The unranked Terps got a big signature win under second-year head coach Mark Turgeon with an 83-81 upset over No. 2 Duke on Saturday in an Atlantic Coast Conference game as Maryland fans stormed the court in front of an ESPN audience.

Maryland beat Duke at home several times under former coach Williams, but this was the biggest win for Turgeon in College Park.

A potential game-winning 3-point shot by Duke freshman Quinn Cook (18 points) hit the rim but bounced away at the buzzer.

It was the second time this season Maryland (18-7, 6-6 in the ACC) beat a ranked team from North Carolina at home. Earlier the Terps knocked off North Carolina State at the Comcast Center. But this was Duke, which fell to 22-3, 9-3 in perhaps its last trip to College Park.

Center Alex Len of Ukraine had 25 points for Maryland, Seth Allen added 16 points and Dez Wells had 6 assists.

Seth Curry had 25 points for Duke, which was crushed on the boards by hot-shooting Maryland.

Maryland led the entire second half and took a 10-point lead for the first time with 3:39 left on two free throws by Wells to make it 77-67.

Local product Quinn Cook of Duke cut the lead to 78-72 on a basket with 2:52 to go.

Allen scored to make it 80-72 but Curry hit a 3-pointer with 1:45 left to cut the lead to 80-75.

Curry made another 3-pointer to cut the lead to 80-78 with 57.4 seconds to play.

Jake Layman made a free throw to make it 81-78 with 26.9 seconds left.

Duke's Rasheed Sulaimon was fouled on a 3-point attempt by Layman and the freshman guard made 3 free throws to tie it at 81.

Maryland got the ball back and Allen was fouled on a drive with 2.8 seconds left. He made two free throws to give the Terps an 83-81 lead.

But Cook, a local product from DeMatha, had his shot inside of halfcourt hit the rim and bounce away.

The Terps, who led by five early in the game, took its first six-point lead of the game as Jake Layman soared for a fastbreak layup to make it 47-41 with 16:27 to play, sending fans into a frenzy.

Maryland took its second lead of 8 points minutes later at 51-43 on a basket by Charles Mitchell with 15:05 to go.

Duke got to within 59-57 on a dunk by Alex Murphy with 8:21 to go.

The visitors got to within 60-59 with 7:56 left on 2 free throws by Rasheed Sulaimon, but Len hit four free throws to make it 64-59 with 7:20 left.

Allen made a layup to make it 68-63. After a steal, a dunk by Wells gave the Terps a 70-63 lead with 5:20 left as the fans made a deafening sound.

NOTES: Among those at the game were former Maryland wide receiver Torrey Smith of the world champion Ravens, former NBA star Juan Dixon and former Maryland quarterback Boomer Esiason ... Duke still leads the overall series at 113-62 and a mark of 40-38 at Maryland.