SPOKANE, WASHINGTON — While the Terrapins men’s basketball team escaped Friday with a 79-74 win over South Dakota State in the NCAA Tournament, Jaylen Brantley’s teammates took some time to poke fun at the reserve guard for his missed free throw with 12 seconds left.
Brantley went to the line with the No. 5-seed Terps clinging to a 76-74 lead over the No. 12-seed Jackrabbits. If he made both, the Terps would be up two possessions.
But his first free-throw attempt since March 3 drilled the backboard on the fly.
“He came in, missed the first one pretty bad,” forward Jake Layman said. “I was surprised by that. I’ll be honest, I was surprised by that.”
Added guard Melo Trimble: “The way he missed the first one was unbelievable; I mean, he hit the backboard first. So I was like, ‘Oh my God.'”
Trimble, who usually takes the late-game free throws, was sitting on the bench because he’d fouled out. He didn’t need to say anything to Brantley. Trimble just stared out at the court.
“I just looked at him like, ‘Are you serious?'” Trimble said.
But Brantley knocked down the second one to ensure South Dakota State couldn’t take the lead at the other end. And to cap the win, Brantley shut down the Jackrabbits near half court to help cause the game-clinching steal for guard Rasheed Sulaimon.
So the Terps were able to joke with Brantley after the win at the expense of his bricked free throw.
“Oh yeah,” Layman said, “he got some stuff for that.”
