174-pound Jimmy Sheptock lifts his opponent before slamming him to the mat during the Terps’ 21-12 loss to Pittsburgh on Dec. 6, 2013 at Comcast Center.

By the time 174-pound Tony Gardner stepped onto the mat to take on No. 8 Tyler Wilps in Friday’s ACC opener, the Terrapins wrestling team had recorded just one takedown against Pittsburgh through six matches.

The Terps were trailing, 16-3, and Gardner would need to capture a victory to keep the Terps alive. He would have to go through Wilps, however, a 2013 NCAA Championship qualifier.

Wilps outwrestled Gardner, who suffered two near falls and four takedowns. The match ended in a technical fall in the third period as Gardner fell to Wilps, 18-2.

It was that kind of night for the Terps. They regularly appeared overmatched and fell to the Panthers, 21-12, at Comcast Pavilion.

“It sucks,” coach Kerry McCoy said. “We got beat again by a team that wasn’t that much better than us. You could say we had some guys, couple of questionable calls by the official, but bottom line is we didn’t win.”

The Terps (4-4, 0-1 ACC) once again received little production from their lower and middleweight classes. Shyheim Brown, No. 17 at 141 pounds, who upset then-No. 4 Mike Nevinger of Cornell on Dec. 1, was defeated by Edgar Bright, 5-3.

In addition, 133-pound Tyler Goodwin hurt his knee Dec. 1 at the Grapple at the Garden and didn’t compete. Neither did his brother, 149-pound Frank Goodwin, who recently suffered a concussion.

The injuries further compounded the team’s inefficiencies at the lower classes. At 157 pounds, Danny Orem was the lone Terp wrestling at less than 174 pounds to notch a takedown. Anthony Volpe, wrestling in his first match as a Terp at 165 pounds, allowed four takedowns in the final 1:30 of the third period.

“I think he just had like a brain fart and stopped wrestling for a little bit,” McCoy said. “In those quick situations, it starts getting rolling, rolling, rolling; it’s like, ‘What’s happening here?’”

By the time No. 3 184-pound Jimmy Sheptock locked up with No. 6 Max Thomusseit, the match was largely out of reach for the Terps. They trailed 21-3, and would need pin victories in each of the three final matches to tie Pittsburgh.

Sheptock didn’t pin Thomusseit, but he did provide a bit of excitement for the Terps. The competitors appeared evenly matched through the majority of the contest, but in the third period, Sheptock lifted Thomusseit over his head and ferociously slammed him down to the mat.

“It’s always good to have a guy that’s that caliber because you know you’re going to see him in March,” Sheptock said. “You get the wins against them during the year … I’m going to see that guy in ACCs. He’s a tough wrestler.”

After No. 11 Christian Boley defeated Nick Bonaccorsi at 197 pounds, 3-2, it appeared No. 6 Spencer Myers wouldn’t have much trouble against the noticeably smaller P.J. Tasser, who has wrestled at 165 pounds in the past.

Tasser hung tight with Myers, though, as the two fought to a tiebreaker period. As the clock ticked down, Myers finally took down Tasser to take the match, 4-3.

It was another disappointing performance from a Terps team that expected to be competing for an ACC Championship this season. Instead, the Terps are a .500 team with a loss in their only ACC contest.

“The semester is over,” Sheptock said. “Now we’re going to look towards the next semester. We have almost a month till our next competition … If guys keep working in the right direction, there’s no telling where they could be at the end of the year.”