College of Charleston advances to face UA with upset of fifth-seeded Maryland

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - College of Charleston convinced a few more skeptics last night.

Stacy Harris scored 22 points as the Cougars upset Maryland 75-66 in the first round of the Southeast Regional, marking the ninth-straight year a No. 12 seed has beaten a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Charleston now faces Arizona (20-9) in the second round.

"This will be a good matchup," UA assistant coach Jessie Evans said. "It's just going to be a matter of which team executes better."

"We came out, we played hard, we played smart, we got the job done, we move on," said College of Charleston coach John Kresse. "We've got some guys who can play in the big leagues. They proved it once again. Now we legitimately believe we belong in the NC AA tournament."

Although they entered the tournament with a 28-2 record and a 22-game winning streak, the Cougars didn't get much respect as champions of the Trans America Athletic Conference. They showed they were for real against Maryland (21-11), however, which plays in the elite Atlantic Coast Conference.

"This ballclub moves on, and we'll ... see if the dream season can continue just a little bit longer," Kresse said.

Since 1989, a dozen No. 12 seeds have beaten No. 5 seeds in the tournament. And five of those lower seeds have gone on to reach the regional semifinals.

Although Charleston was the lower seed, the Cougars were actually ranked higher than Maryland in the final Associated Press poll. Charleston was 16th, while the Terrapins were 22nd.

Maryland coach Gary Williams said Charleston was too quick for his Terrapins.

"I thought they were quick, but we've played a lot of quick teams this year," Williams said. "Duke's a very quick team, and we split with them. N.C. State's pretty quick, and we took two out of three. But we came in tonight, and we didn't look that quick on the floor."

Charleston used clutch outside shooting from Harris, who finished with 22 points, and tough inside play by the "Shaq-of-the-TAAC," Thaddeus Delaney, to best the Terrapins.

Harris hyper-extended his knee, however, and will be evaluated Friday.

"We don't want to settle with this win," said Delaney, who finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and six blocks. "We want to win a few more before we are finished making our statement."

Keith Booth, Maryland's leading scorer, finished with 18 points. But 10 of those came after the game was out of reach.

Charleston took control with a 14-2 run, keyed by five points from Rodney Conner, for a 49-40 lead with 11:39 left. The Cougars stretched that to as many as 12 several times as Shane McCravy scored all nine of his points in the second half.

Anthony Johnson added 17 points for Charleston.

The Cougars scored the first six points of the game and led 11-4 following a 3-pointer by Johnson. But Maryland rallied to tie it 33-33 at halftime behind Laron Profit and Terrell Stokes. Profit scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half.

Charleston's seniors are now 110-16 over the past four years.

"I think our point will be made if we can win a few more ballgames," Delaney said. "I don't think we can just settle on this win right here."