BOISE, IDAHO — BOISE, Idaho - Most games this season, Georgia State's backcourt felt comfortable letting it fly from the outside. The Panthers set a school record with 267 three-pointers this season, seventh in the nation.
Their usual strength helped lead to their downfall in a 79-60 loss to Maryland at Boise State University Pavilion.
Georgia State shot just 18 percent from three-point territory and 31 percent overall for the game.
"We didn't shoot," Georgia State coach Lefty Driesell said. "Thomas Terrell, who was our second-leading scorer this year, was 2-for-11, and Kevin [Morris] was 2-for-14. If we shoot like that, we're not going to beat anybody. We only made four threes, and we live by the three."
The Panthers made four of 22 three-pointers, with two coming from leading scorer Shernard Long. He scored a game-high 20 points, but only four came in the second half.
Credit Maryland's defense for turning its focus to Long, who found himself surrounded by Terrapins in the second half. His first points came with only 5:37 left and the Panthers down by 14. Forward Danny Miller, at 6 feet 8, also made it difficult for Long to get off a three-pointer.
"They started running maybe two guys at me when I went to the basket," Long said. "I have to credit their defense. They did a pretty good job."
And his teammates could not help him out any. The Panthers made seven of 26 shots in the second half.
"I think the biggest thing that happened in the game was that we were able to control Long a little bit the second half," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "The first half, he really hurt us."
Big game for big men
To no surprise of Williams, Maryland's two primary big men, Lonny Baxter and Terence Morris, came back to have solid games.
Both were more aggressive against an undersized Georgia State frontcourt. Baxter led the team with 19 points on 7-for-16 shooting, and Morris added 14 points on 5-for-11 shooting.
Morris and Baxter scored just six points combined against George Mason in the first round.
"They realized they didn't play as well as they could," Williams said. "But the other part of that is that the guards didn't do a good job of getting the ball to those guys. ... [Yesterday], we did a good job of getting the ball inside, like we do when we're a good offensive team."
Morris also had two impressive blocks and nine rebounds. Baxter pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds.
"I think that first game, I was pretty flat," Morris said. "Things just [weren't] working well for me. But today, I just came out with an aggressive mind-set. I wanted to take what I was given."
Et cetera
The Terps are flying straight from Boise to Anaheim, Calif., site of the West Regional quarterfinals, rather than coming back to College Park. Georgetown also is going straight to California for the Sweet 16 matchup. ... Vinny Mayolo, Driesell's former manager at Maryland, did not make the trip from Lonaconing, Md., to Boise to provide support for Georgia State. Driesell had hoped Mayolo would give Georgia State an emotional lift with his fiery nature on the bench, but NCAA regulations prevented Mayolo from sitting on the Georgia State bench because he is not associated with the team.
Sun staff writer Bill Free contributed to this article.