COLLEGE PARK -- At the start of a crucial year in his basketball development, Maryland's accidental center faced some weighty issues.

When Lonny Baxter showed up at Hargrave Military Academy in a remote part of southwestern Virginia in the summer of 1997, he packed a variety of post-up moves and 276 pounds. He carried too much for his 6-foot-8 frame, and not enough in the weight room.

"Lonny wanted to get up and down the court, but he was carrying an extra 30-40 pounds," Hargrave coach Scott Shepherd said. "We play the way Maryland does, pressing 40 minutes, so taking off the weight was a natural thing. The weight room was another matter. I don't think he could bench 100 pounds."

Does that sound right, Lonny?

"I wasn't that heavy," Baxter said. "I wasn't 276 when I got to Hargrave, I was 264. I weigh 255 now. That's not that much of a difference."

And that puny total for the bench press?

"I could bench 100," Baxter said.

Baxter benches 225 pounds these days. He also has embraced a heavier role with the Terps, who will play one of the biggest games in the program's history tomorrow.

No. 5 Maryland meets No. 9 St. John's tomorrow in Knoxville, Tenn., in a mammoth third-round game in the NCAA tournament. The only Sweet 16 matchup between Top 10 teams features stars like Steve Francis and Ron Artest, and in Baxter, a freshman center who was an afterthought on coach Gary Williams' mental checklist two months ago.

Baxter started the last game of Obinna Ekezie's career, when Williams decided the reserve big man was the antidote to the Terps' only losing streak of the season. When Ekezie ruptured his right Achilles' tendon Feb. 9, Baxter became Maryland's starting center for good, and the Terps are 9-1 with him in the lineup.

Baxter is averaging 9.1 points and 4.3 rebounds as a starter, but in mid-January, he was buried deep on Maryland's bench. He had more fouls than minutes -- three to two -- at North Carolina on Jan. 13. He then got three minutes in a rout of Georgia Tech, and Williams didn't even use Baxter in an overtime win at Clemson.

Did Baxter despair?

"A little bit," he said. "We won the game; that's all that matters. Coach made the decision, and I had to live with it."

Baxter's rise began on his 20th birthday, as he got 15 minutes in a romp over Florida State. When both Ekezie and sophomore Mike Mardesich did little in the latest of a series of embarrassing losses to Duke, and Baxter made all five of his shots and scored 12 points at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Williams shook up his team.

Baxter said little after his first start, and hasn't said much since.

"He's just a low-key guy," senior forward Laron Profit said. "If you say something, he just nods his head. He doesn't say a word. He doesn't complain about anything, and he's so different. I like him the way he is. Leave him be."

Baxter did confide in Francis, since the two share a dormitory suite and well-traveled high school resumes.

Baxter played a season of JV basketball at Springbrook High in Montgomery County, before family matters had him on the move. He didn't play as a sophomore, when he transferred to Richard Montgomery High, but he was a Montgomery County all-star there as a junior. As a senior, he attended Anacostia High in Washington, and helped an aunt care for his ill grandmother.

"My aunt worked nights, so I would take care of my grandmother at night," Baxter said. "She died in the spring that year. It wasn't easy."

Basketball was. Baxter was a key figure in Anacostia's championship run. In the D.C. title game at Cole Field House, he dropped 35 points and 12 rebounds on Gonzaga and won the attention of Maryland's coaching staff.

Baxter needed to raise his standardized test score to gain freshman eligibility, and headed to Hargrave, a prep school in Chatham, Va. He got his academics in order and played second fiddle to Korleone Young, who was taken in the first round of the NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons.

Baxter was having an uneventful rookie season at Maryland, until he went from second big man off the bench to starter in the span of three games.

"I didn't know what to think when Obinna went down," Baxter said. "I couldn't believe it happened. Coach told me I didn't have to try to do everything. He told me I didn't have to be a hero, said 'because Obinna is not going to be able to play the rest of the season, don't go out and try to do this and that. Just play your game.' "

Baxter's inclination to collect cheap fouls remains a concern, but he has not been a burden at the offensive end.

Even with a solid jumper -- he connected on both of his three-pointers this season -- Baxter leans on high-percentage shots and great hands. Whereas the half-court offense might have bogged down when Ekezie backed in off the dribble, Baxter kicks the ball out when he doesn't see an opportunity.

"Lonny doesn't have the one-on-one moves Obinna has; he doesn't have his experience," senior point guard Terrell Stokes said. "But he has the strength. When he catches the ball, he can take two or three people with him to the basket."

Now the opposition has the weighty problem.

Next for Terps

Opponent: St. John's (27-8)

What: NCAA tournament South Regional semifinal

Site: Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tenn.

When: Tomorrow, 7: 38 p.m.

TV/Radio: Chs. 13, 9/WBAL (1090 AM)

Seeds: Maryland No. 2, St. John's No. 3

Line: Maryland by 3 Pub Date: 3/17/99