NCAA Midwest: Tough Terps knock out Iona

MINNEAPOLIS -- No time like the postseason for Terence Morris to live up to preseason expectations. <br> <br>The junior forward who had a rocky regular season after being picked as the favorite to win

Thursday, March 16th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

MINNEAPOLIS -- No time like the postseason for Terence Morris to live up to preseason expectations.

The junior forward who had a rocky regular season after being picked as the favorite to win ACC player of the year honors led Maryland past Iona 74-59 on Thursday night in the Midwest Regional.

Morris, the only upperclassman in Maryland's starting lineup, had 22 points and 12 rebounds as the Terps (25-9) ran all over the No. 14 seed Gaels (20-11).

Maryland, the No. 3 seed, jumped ahead 23-4 and led 60-32 midway through the second half before the Gaels made it respectable behind Tariq Kirksay, the player of the year in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference who scored 20 of his 24 points after halftime.

The Terrapins, who lost four starters from last season's 28-6 team, including point guard Steve Francis to the NBA, got even younger when sophomore small forward Danny Miller sat out with a sprained left ankle.

Miller was hurt in the final of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, and his injury forced coach Gary Williams to rely heavily on freshmen Tahj Holden in big lineups and Drew Nicholas in three-guard sets.

Morris, who came on strong toward season's end and played well in the ACC tournament, had 14 points and 10 rebounds by halftime, when the Terps led 38-25.

With freshman point guard Steve Blake running the Terps' fast-paced offense, Maryland jumped out to a 23-4 lead before the Gaels knew what had hit them.

Blake was penetrating at will and kicking the ball outside to Juan Dixon (20 points) or finding bulky center Lonny Baxter (12 points) underneath the basket.

Kirksay gave Iona a 2-0 lead, then scored just one more basket the rest of the half. His five baskets keyed a 14-2 run that pulled the Gaels to 62-46 with four minutes left.

Kirksay's 3-pointer made it 65-49 and a turnover on the subsequent inbounds led to Nakiea Miller's three-point play made it 65-52 with 3:10 left.

Another 3 by Kirksay made it 67-55, but the Gaels were spent.

Iona second-year coach Jeff Ruland said his strategy for the game was to ``start off with a good prayer.''

But the Gaels didn't have much of one Thursday night.