Queen regal for Terps, favored Maryland runs away from Grand Canyon in Seattle NCAAs
The Big Ten's star freshman big man's 14th double-double this season, and ninth in his last 11 games, left smaller Grand Canyon in a chasm it could never get out of.
The fourth-seeded Terrapins seized a 20-point lead in the first half. Then they cruised to a 81-48 victory over the 13 seed 'Lopes at Climate Pledge Arena in the second of four first-round games of the NCAA tournament's return to Seattle.
Queen finished with 12 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, two blocks, multiple no-look passes inside and more menacing moves than a turtle should have. He led the Terps (26-8), second-place finishers in the Big Ten this regular season, into the second round Sunday at the home of the NHL's Kraken — and hoped-for home of the future Sonics to the NBA.
Maryland will play Colorado State. The 12th-seeded Rams (26-9) rallied to beat fifth-seeded Memphis 78-70 in the first Seattle game Friday.
Against GCU, Julian Reese was 8 for 15 from the field for 18 points for Maryland. The Terps trailed early. Then they blitzed Grand Canyon with Queen inside and hot shooting outside during a relentless, 31-6 run.
It put the Terps up by 20, 33-13, with 5 1/2 minutes left in the first half.
Grand Canyon missed 16 of its first 21 shots and was shooting 23%. That was while Maryland was scorching, 12 for 23 (52%).
All the while, Queen dominated the lane.
Late in the first half, Grand Canyon leading scorer JaKobe Coles spun on a Terps defender free to rim for what he thought was a layup. The 6-foot-10 Queen raced across the lane and swatted Coles' shot from the rim into the corner. Coles, the Western Athletic Conference tournament most outstanding player last week, looked stunned.
To avoid Queen, the 'Lopes resorted to shooting 3-point tries outside. That mostly failed, too.
GCU shot just 21.7% (5 for 23) from 3-point range.
Grant-Foster made one, from well behind the top of the arc to end the first half. He angrily pointed at his 'Lopes bench as the teams headed into the locker room for halftime. That cut Maryland's lead to 42-28.
Grant-Foster scored the first basket after halftime, too, a put back that got GCU within 12.
Grand Canyon couldn't get closer after that. A tip-in backside off a miss by Queen put Maryland back up by 17, 51-34, with 15 minutes remaining.
The lead grew to 71-45 with 5:20 left, on a 3-pointer by the Terps' Selton Miguel off the 'Lopes' ninth turnover, then to 79-48 with Jordan Geronimo's emphatic, two-handed dunk off a loose ball in the lane with 2 minutes left.
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