ATLANTA -- With two heavyweights in Maryland and Kansas battling it out Saturday, the game figured to be a real Maalox Masher, baby! The Terrapins ran into a big-time gut check before finally moving on to their first national championship game, 97-88.

	Juan Dixon was unstoppable in the first half, scoring 19 points.

What a gutty comeback by the Jayhawks. Roy Williams' team wouldn't go down without a fight. The Jayhawks were down 83-63 with 6:10 to go, but they went on a 19-4 run to put Kansas within five. Jeff Boschee hit two big-time trifectas, the last one with 27.3 seconds left, and a Drew Gooden three pulled Kansas within four with 19.8 seconds to go.

But in the end Maryland was clutch from the free-throw line. The Terps hit eight of their final nine foul shots to hold off a super basketball team and secure their spot in Monday's national championship game.

In the first half the Jayhawks jumped out to a 13-2 lead and were executing brilliantly. They were getting every shot they wanted, inside and outside. But then Juan Dixon, Maryland's All-American and superstar, went on a spurt. He scored 19 of his career-high 33 points in the first half and would not allow the Terrapins to go into halftime with a deficit.

To open the second half Maryland put on a clinic, especially the backcourt of Dixon and Steve Blake, who had 11 assists. Blake's penetrations and passing ability were a thing of beauty.

The Terps' frontcourt people come to play. They just wore down Kansas with their depth. Lonny Baxter got into foul trouble and didn't become a factor until the second half, but he got a lot of help from his friends. Chris Wilcox was a major factor as were Tahj Holden and Ryan Randle off the bench. It was a total team effort.

On the other side, Gooden and Kirk Hinrich were both in foul trouble early, picking up their fourth fouls midway through the second half. But the Terps were able to shut Gooden down. His numbers weren't bad (15 points, nine rebounds), but they were deceiving. He only had one field goal in the first half.

Nick Collison, with 21 points and 10 rebounds, was the Jayhawks' most consistent player and was effective in the low post, but he didn't have enough help from his buddies. And Kansas got no bench production, with only 12 points coming from its reserves.

Now that Maryland has survived Kansas, it will be a heavy favorite to cut down the nets Monday. The Terps will be too tough for Indiana to deny.