Nov. 21, 2000

Box Score

? Video Highlights

By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer

LAHAINA, Hawaii -- Marcus Griffin had all but two of his 19 points in the second half and Illinois' front line dominated Maryland's as the No. 8 Fighting Illini beat the sixth-ranked Terrapins 90-80 Tuesday in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational.

Illinois (3-0) advanced to Wednesday's championship game against the winner of the semifinal between No. 1 Arizona and Dayton.

Sophomore guard Frank Williams added 21 points for Illinois, which prevailed in the season's first matchup between Top 10 teams.

Illinois rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat UNLV in the opening round, while Maryland (1-1) used its experience advantage up front to dominate Louisville.

On Tuesday, Illinois took control up front as sophomore Brian Cook had 11 points and nine rebounds and senior Sergio McClain had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Griffin, who was 9-for-14 from the field, had eight rebounds as Illinois finished with a 55-37 advantage on the boards.

Lonny Baxter had 17 points for Maryland and Terence Morris added 13, but neither was able to get anything going against Griffin, Cook and McClain.

Griffin scored on an offensive rebound and on a move down low to key an 11-2 run that gave the Illini a 66-54 lead with 9:26 to play.

After a 3-pointer by Morris, Griffin scored on a rebound dunk and a layup to make it 70-57 with 7:56 left. Maryland wasn't able to get closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Maryland finished 28-for-64 from the field (43.8 percent), far off the 61 percent it shot in the opening round.