Cavaliers don’t get change they need

COLLEGE PARK, Md.

On a day when change was the key word floating around the nation’s capital, all Virginia got a few miles up the road was the same old thing.

After Virginia had clawed back from a 17-point first-half deficit and cut host Maryland’s lead to a mere two points with five minutes to play Tuesday night, the Terrapins must have wondered if they were experiencing deja vu all over again.

Last week, Maryland held a 17-point second half lead on the road at Miami and lost.

“It was still there from Miami,” said Maryland coach Gary Williams, the defeat still fresh on his mind. “They’re college students and that slips through your head. You have to battle through those demons and that’s exactly what we did.”

The Cavaliers seemed disinterested in the first half as the Terps dominated, using a 12-0 run to jump to their biggest lead at 45-28 just a minute before the break.

Like night and day

You might think that Dave Leitao lit up his team at halftime, because it wasn’t the same group of Cavaliers that came out in the second half. After shooting a putrid 34.5 percent in the first half and allowing Maryland — the ACC’s worst shooting team — to connect on 58.6 percent of its shots (and 57 percent of its 3-pointers), UVa came back with a vengence.

Still, after slowly chopping away at the Terps’ lead, finally getting it to two at 65-63 with 5:05 remaining in the game, there just wasn’t enough defensive punch there to stop the hosts.

The Cavs couldn’t stop Terrapins forward Landon Milbourne’s penetration down the stretch. The 6-foot-7 junior scored 10 of his 17 points in the final four minutes.

A career performance by Virginia junior forward Jamil Tucker (21 points) kept the Cavs in the game late, but it wasn’t enough.

Falling to the bottom

It was more of the same for the Cavaliers, who lost for the third straight time and dropped to 7-8 overall and 1-3 in the ACC, slipping into next-to-last place ahead of only winless Georgia Tech (0-5). While UVa lost again, there is some solace for Leitao, whose team at least is putting up a fight.

Ten of the Cavaliers’ 15 games this season have been decided by 10 points or less, while Maryland, now 13-5 and 2-2 in the ACC, has managed to pull out most of its close games. The Terps, 11-1 in Comcast Center this season, have had three losses by a combined six points.

Virginia hopes its luck will “change” Saturday at home against Florida State.