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GREENSBORO -- Greivis Vasquez pictured his heroic moment coming Friday night, with a tight game against Georgia Tech coming down to a big shot that the Maryland guard felt he was destined to make.

But when Vasquez's opportunity came, it was nothing like he imagined.

Against a Georgia Tech defense that consistently denied him the ball, trapped him on drives and forced him into rushed shots, Vasquez could never find his ACC player of the year form against the Yellow Jackets in a 69-64 loss to Georgia Tech in the ACC tournament quarterfinals at the Greensboro Coliseum.

And when heroic opportunity was presented in the final 30 seconds, Vasquez instead put up an air ball on a 3-point attempt with the Terrapins trailing by two points, then had another 3-point attempt blocked by Georgia Tech guard Iman Shumpert with five seconds remaining.

"I had that on my mind today: I was going to take the last shot," Vasquez said. "I've tried to learn from other players, NBA players. Kobe (Bryant) and players like that. And it didn't work out for me. I thought it was going to be my time. But it didn't happen."

In fact, Vasquez could never make the big shots that became commonplace during his sensational senior season. With the Yellow Jackets denying his touches, collapsing on his drives and harassing him into six turnovers, Vasquez turned in a 6-for-21 shooting night for a hard-earned 17 points.

But it was those final two plays, when the Tech defense denied Vasquez of his moment of glory, that came to define an overall Yellow Jackets defensive effort that held Maryland to 37.3 percent from the field and helped Georgia Tech build a 19-point lead late in the first half.

After burying a 3-pointer to bring Maryland within 66-64 with 1:04 remaining, Vasquez took an inbounds pass with the shot clock winding down, drove to the right wing and rushed an air-balled 3-pointer with two seconds remaining on the shot clock -- part of his 2 of 11 shooting night from beyond the 3-point arc.

"We played good team defense on him," said Georgia Tech forward Derrick Favors. "Whoever was on him, we just tried to deny him the ball, tried to make him take tough shots. We tried to make it tough on him all night offensively."

None was tougher than the final play.

As Vasquez brought the ball up for a game-tying 3-point attempt with Georgia Tech leading 67-64, Shumpert -- whom Yellow Jackets coach Paul Hewitt described as "one of the best defensive players in the league" -- deflected the ball as Vasquez pulled up for the shot. Both players raced for the loose ball, and Vasquez eventually had to pull on Shumpert's jersey to prevent a breakaway layup.

Shumpert's ensuing free throw sealed the win, and punctuated Tech's defensive effort on Vasquez.

"He's seen it all," said Shumpert.

"So we just wanted to keep pressure on him and make him have to keep making decisions. And I think we eventually wore him down a little bit. I think we got into him a little bit."