Maryland 79, Duke 72

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Thanks to a gritty performance by a hot Maryland team on its senior night, Duke holds only a share of first place in the ACC.

Freshman center Jordan Williams rebounded Landon Milbourne’s miss and laid in the go-ahead basket with 1 minute, 37 seconds remaining Wednesday night as 22nd-ranked Maryland defeated No. 4 Duke 79-72 at Comcast Center.

Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith both tried to regain the lead with 3-point attempts, but missed. Maryland point guard Greivis Vasquez added a field goal to extend the lead to four, and the Blue Devils couldn’t come back.

Vasquez led Maryland with 20 points on his senior night.

Smith scored 20 points and Scheyer added 19 as Maryland (22-7, 12-3 ACC) won its sixth game in a row to pull into a tie atop the ACC standings with Duke (25-5, 12-3). The Blue Devils saw their eight-game winning streak snapped.

On Saturday, Maryland visits Virginia and Duke plays host to North Carolina in the teams’ final games of the regular season. If they finish tied atop the ACC standings, they will share the regular-season conference title.

According to the ACC’s tie-breaking rules, it appears that Duke would gain the No. 1 seed for the ACC Tournament based on its record against other teams that are in high positions in the standings.

Fired up by its pregame senior night festivities, Maryland roared out to a 10-2 lead as Scheyer missed three shots in the first four minutes. The Blue Devils got a chance to catch their breath, though, because the net they were shooting on needed to be removed from the rim with 16:09 remaining in the first half.

After a seven-minute break, Singler immediately christened the new net with a 3-point shot. But the Terrapins continued to pull away as Eric Hayes and Sean Mosley scored on assorted short jumpers in the lane.

With 6:09 remaining in the half, Maryland led 33-19. Thirty-nine seconds later, Scheyer went to the bench with his second foul. But the Blue Devils, who missed six of their first nine 3-pointers, suddenly got hot.

Singler, Smith and Scheyer made 3-pointers in the final 3:08 of the half. Singler added a three-point play during that stretch, and Duke suddenly trailed just 40-38 at halftime.

Duke took its first lead on a Scheyer 3-pointer 11 seconds after halftime and led by as many as four points early in the second half. But the Terrapins’ excellent defense held Duke without a field goal for 6:26, and Maryland led 54-49 after 6-foot-2 Adrian Bowie made a 3-pointer over 6-10 Mason Plumlee with 11:10 remaining. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called timeout and argued with referee Karl Hess, apparently over a questionable backcourt violation Hess called against the Blue Devils.

But suddenly Maryland couldn’t score and Smith began slicing through the Terrapin defense for acrobatic scores in the lane. After spinning to the basket to make a shot and get fouled by Sean Mosley, Smith flexed his arms in a bodybuilder’s pose.

Another layup, which gave Smith seven points in 1:40, reclaimed the lead for Duke at 56-54 with 8:01 remaining.

The teams exchanged leads three times, but Scheyer tied the score at 69-69 on a leaner with 2:04 remaining before Williams’ basket put Maryland ahead for good.