Associated Press Maryland head coach Gary Williams is surrounded by celebrating Terrapins and Terrapin fans as he holds up the trophy after beating Indiana 64-52 in the NCAA championship game in the Georgia Dome yesterday in Atlanta.

ATLANTA - This one makes up for all the heartaches, all the embarrassment, all the bitter losses in one maddening March after another.

The Maryland Terrapins are 2002 national champions, and from now on that will be the defining moment for a program known previously for the death of Len Bias, and for coming up short in big games.

Maryland beat Indiana 64-52 last night, capping the best season in the history of the program. Coming in as heavy favorites, the Terrapins blew a 12-point lead and nearly gave away the game.

Any Maryland fan who followed the program should have known it wouldn't be easy. After all, this is the same team that frittered away a 22-point cushion against Duke in the Final Four a year ago.

This time, though, the Terrapins won. Better yet, they beat a team that came in with a winning tradition on its side.

Maryland (32-4) won by relying on its three seniors, even though Juan Dixon, Lonny Baxter and Byron Mouton didn't perform in a fashion that will earn them a place in NCAA championship lore.

Dixon, the leading scorer in Maryland history, went more than 20 minutes without a point. Baxter was 3-for-10 from the field in the first half, and Mouton scored just one basket.

Yet Baxter, limited to only four points in 14 foul-plauged minutes against Kansas on Saturday, finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds. He took care of the lane, while Dixon worked the perimeter to score 18.

It was a formula that produced 31 wins before Monday night, and a team-record 32nd came against a game but outmanned Indiana team.

And now Maryland can no longer be referred to as the best program never to win a championship. No longer can Gary Williams, now in his 24th season, be called the best coach never to win a title.

It just took a while.

Baxter, Dixon, Mouton and Chris Wilcox ended the night by doing what Len Elmore, Tom McMillen, Steve Francis, Bias and Joe Smith never did during their time at Maryland: cutting down the nets to celebrate a national championship.

Before this, the Terrapins' most notable games were defeats. There was the debacle at the Final Four against Duke, and a 103-100 overtime loss to North Carolina State in the 1974 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament final.

Now, there's a new game at the top of the list.

Dixon finished his career at Maryland as the school's leading scoring (2,269) and with a run of 54 straight games in which he scored in double figures.

This Maryland team played longer and won more games than any in the rich history of the program. After opening with a loss to Arizona on Nov. 8 - the earliest start in school history - the Terrapins dropped only three more games over the next 143 days.

It was a season that will be celebrated when the team moves to a new arena across campus next season. First, though, a banner will be hung at venerable Cole Field House that reads "Maryland Terrapins: 2002 National Champions."

It was a long time coming.