After grabbing the final rebound of the Maryland men’s basketball team’s 76-75 win Tuesday night, guard Anthony Cowan sprinted to midcourt to celebrate with his teammates, who jumped off the bench and ran onto the floor as the final buzzer at the Verizon Center sounded. Coach Mark Turgeon rejoiced on the sideline, fist pumping and twirling around as though he were in the midst of a ballet routine.
Guard Kevin Huerter had just blocked the Hoyas’ go-ahead layup attempt, capping the Terps’ improbable comeback that left Georgetown wondering how it lost a nine-point lead in the final three minutes.
Two turnovers in the last 19 seconds didn’t help. Neither did fouling guard Melo Trimble in the backcourt with 7.6 seconds to play and a one-point advantage. But Georgetown’s collapse wasn’t all its own doing. With Trimble at the point and his teammates spread around him, Maryland scored 17 points in its final eight possessions, putting pressure on the Hoyas until they cracked.
“We had great shooters around him — Jared Nickens, Justin [Jackson] hit some threes, Anthony can make shots, and Kevin Huerter,” Turgeon said. “Try to guard that lineup when we space it.”
Turgeon preached offensive balance entering Tuesday’s contest. Against American, Trimble’s 19 shots were 13 more than the next highest Terp, a formula the sixth-year coach said wouldn’t work against stiffer competition.
“I don’t want to make it a Melo show with 35 minutes to go in the game,” Turgeon said.
Maryland moved away from that style of play for much of their game against Georgetown, as Trimble had 11 points at the final media timeout. Players such as Jackson (17 points) and Cowan (11 points), playing in their second college games, found ways to score, while forward Ivan Bender added nine points off the bench despite still recovering from a fractured right wrist.
But with the Terps trailing, 65-56, with less than four minutes to go, Turgeon thought he might have waited too long to defer to Trimble. From then on, he told his All-Big Ten guard to drive the ball into the lane. If the defense collapsed, the Terps touted capable shooters on the perimeter as an outlet for the junior.
Trailing by nine with two minutes and 21 seconds to play, Trimble got to the rim for a layup. He hit two free throws on the ensuing possession before Huerter knocked down a 3-pointer. The Hoyas’ lead dipped to four with a little under a minute to play.
Needing to foul, the Terps hacked guard L.J. Peak, who hit Georgetown’s 33rd and 34th free throws of the night. But Jackson responded with a layup, and on the next two Maryland trips, Cowan drew fouls. The 6-foot Bowie native brought his team within one with by sinking four straight from the line.
“We played with a group of freshmen out there who have never been in that environment before,” said Trimble, who led all scorers with 22 points. “For them to go out there and play the way they did and step up when we needed them to was very special.”
Turgeon related his squad’s late-game execution Tuesday night to their offensive efficiency in the final minutes against American in their season opener. Then, Maryland didn’t commit a turnover in the final seven minutes and made enough stops to fend off the Eagles at Xfinity Center. While the Terps went without a giveaway for the last five minutes Tuesday night, they couldn’t stop fouling, allowing the Hoyas to maintain their slight advantage.
But after Trimble went the length of the floor for a layup, cutting the deficit to one, Georgetown forward Tre Campbell stepped out of bounds. Peak then compounded the giveaway by fouling Trimble.
“Just too many mental errors at the end,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. “You can rattle off a bunch of them. We put them in a position to win the game.”
Like the previous seven, the Terps’ eighth offensive possession since the 2:21 mark ended in points, opening the door for Huerter to seal the Hoyas’ fate.
“We all just played as a team,” Trimble said. “It just speaks to how poised we are.”
