Maryland claims U.S. college championship with 64-52 win over Indiana

Tuesday, April 2nd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

ATLANTA (AP) _ All-American guard Juan Dixon snapped out of a scoring drought Monday to help Maryland end Indiana's magical tournament run with a 64-52 victory to win the U.S. college basketball championship.

This was the Terrapins' first appearance in a NCAA title game, and the senior-laden lineup rallied over the final 9:42, pulling away from the Hoosiers to become the fourth straight No. 1 seed and eighth in the last 10 years to win it all.

Coach Gary Williams brought his alma mater from the depths of probation 13 years ago to the pinnacle of college basketball. A man considered among the most intense in the game was able to celebrate with his team, which featured four players who had started at least 100 games in their careers.

``We had to really grind it,'' Williams said. ``It took us a good 25 minutes before we really ran our offense.''

Dixon scored at least 27 points in four of the first five tournament games, including 33 in the semifinal win over fellow top seed Kansas. He started the title game at that pace, scoring 11 points in the opening 10 minutes, but didn't score again for 20 minutes.

When he hit a 3-pointer with 9:42 remaining, it gave Maryland (32-4) the lead for good at 45-44 and the Terrapins made sure even a small lead was safe this time.

``I was trying to be patient,'' he said. ``I was trying to let the game come to me. I hit a big shot.''

Dixon finished with 18 points and he and fellow senior Lonny Baxter combined for all the points in the 9-2 run that Dixon started with the 3 and Baxter ended with a dunk that made it 51-46 with 7:22 to play.

Indiana (25-12), which upset top-seeded Duke then shocked second-seeded Oklahoma in the semifinals, just couldn't come up with another stunner.

The team that had the country almost forgetting about temperamental former coach Bob Knight, again used the 3-point shot as its main weapon.

The Hoosiers, who were 23-for-32 from behind the arc in the regional final against Kent State and Oklahoma, made eight of their first 12 Monday night. When Jared Jeffries' layup was deflected with 9:53 remaining, Indiana had its only lead of the game, 44-42.

When Dixon and Baxter, who finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds, stepped up, the long shots stopped falling. Indiana made just two of its 11 shots from behind the arc and its dream of being the first No. 5 seed to win a national championship and match Kansas in 1988 for the most losses by a champion started to fade.

Kyle Hornsby led Indiana with 14 points and Dane Fife added 11. Jeffries, the Big Ten's player of the year, finished with eight points on 4-for-11 shooting. The Hoosiers finished 20-for-58 from the field (34.5 percent), the first time in the tournament they shot below 50 percent.

The Terrapins, who won 19 of their last 20 games, again were big on the boards, finishing with a 42-31 rebound advantage.

The loss was the first for Indiana in six national championship game appearances. The last three titles _ 1976, 1981 and 1987 _ were won under Knight, who was fired two years ago. Mike Davis, one of his assistants, was selected to succeed him and in just his second season he almost won it all.

The annual National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament began last month with 64 teams.