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Maryland Newsline Tuesday, March 5, 2002 With two seconds to go, a crowd awash in red cheered wildly as freshman guard Andre Collins jumped forward to make a three-point shot, the one that would end a nearly half-century of University of Maryland basketball at Cole Field House. Collins' basket capped a 112-92 victory for the men's basketball team over Virginia's. The Sunday night win allowed the teams to come full circle: Almost 47 years ago, on Dec. 2, 1955, Maryland faced Virginia in the field house's first game. Maryland won that one, too, 67-55. With the win, Maryland finished the regular season with a 15-0 home record, the fourth time the team has gone undefeated at Cole. "That was a personal goal, to go undefeated this year" at the field house, said Maryland head coach Gary Williams after the game. "You might as well leave in the right way." Said Junior guard Steve Blake, "The (Cole) scene, just going out like this and winning all the games ... it was great for us and it was real big, real exciting." Passing the ball to the next generation In a fitting closing ceremony following the game, members of the 1955-56 men's basketball team passed the game ball through several generations of Maryland players toward seniors Juan Dixon and Lonny Baxter. They in turn passed the ball to Bud Millikan -- the men's head coach in 1955 -- who passed it on to Williams. At the end of the line was Student Government Association President Angela Lagdameo, representing the future of Cole as a center for student activities. Lagdameo handed the ball to junior guard Steve Blake, who with the help of teammate Tahj Holden dunked the ball for the final ceremonial basket.
Among the former players who returned for the final game were All-Americans Keith Booth, Len Elmore, Albert King, Tom McMillen and Walt Williams; Ernie Graham, who set the Maryland record for points in a game (44); and Larry Gibson, the only Maryland player to be voted Most Valuable Player for three consecutive seasons. Also among the men honored were members of the 1957-58 team, the first at Maryland to earn a bid to the NCAA tournament. Along with the 1955-56 players, they were honored at halftime. Dixon and Baxter, along with Byron Mouton and Earl Badu, were honored in a pre-game Senior Night ceremony. Team managers Steve Wheeler and Nikhil Verma also were applauded. Baxter said walking into Cole for the last time was overwhelming. "I couldn't believe it," he said. "The reactions (of the fans) just did it. Going into the ACC championship (ranked first) and going undefeated at Cole Field House -- that's really huge." A special year for the coach For Williams -- who played on the men's team in the mid-1960s -- having an undefeated streak in the last year at Cole took on emotional significance. "For everybody that has been a part of Cole Field House, we want this to be a great year. It's been incredible how Cole has been a big part of people's lives the past 50 years. We wanted to go out on a high note," he said.
Cole has been used for everything from commencements to concerts to NCAA wrestling tournaments to a 1972 ping-pong match between the United States and China. It's being replaced by a $124 million, state-of-the-art basketball arena, the Comcast Center. Baxter called the final game at Cole a great way to end an already great season. "We just wanted to end it with a bang, you know. Everybody came out playing hard and came out beating a good Virginia team. ... It's just a great feeling for everybody." He called Cole one of the best basketball venues in the country, thanks to the fans. "Our fans just come out every night, support us, they really give us that push that we need coming out of the tunnel every night, you know, just playing at home in front of 14,000" people. --Maryland Newsline staffers Maha Ezzeddine and Gloria Son contributed to this report.
Copyright ©
2002 University
of Maryland College of Journalism
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