Last night’s game hung in the balance with the Terrapins men’s basketball team and Miami tied, 71-71, with 19 seconds to play, and guard Dez Wells wanted the ball in his hands at the crucial moment.

But perhaps more telling, coach Mark Turgeon and the rest of the Terps wanted Wells to have the ball, too. Though they had just coughed up a 10-point lead in about 85 seconds and were in danger of losing their third consecutive game, forwards Jake Layman and Evan Smotrycz said they felt comfortable with Wells handling the ball with the clock dwindling down.

That confidence paid off. Wells buried a 3-pointer a few steps to the left side with about five seconds remaining to give the Terps a 74-71 victory over the Hurricanes before an announced 12,061 at Comcast Center.

“We all trust him in those moments,” Layman said. “And he always comes through in the clutch.”

Wells’ late three, which thwarted Miami’s comeback and comes after the Terps’ stretch of four losses in five games, was part of a virtuoso second-half performance. After sitting all but five minutes of the first half because of foul trouble, the junior scored all 21 of his points in the second half, shooting 7-of-7 from the field and 6-of-6 from the foul line.

Wells took only one 3-pointer in the game, and it was a similar shot to one he attempted to win a scrimmage between the Terps and Villanova in the preseason. Both of those shots went in with the game on the line.

“If you are going to take that shot, you can’t be afraid of the consequence or repercussions that come from taking that shot,” Wells said.

As a team, the Terps (12-9, 4-4 ACC) had their second-highest field-goal percentage of the season against the Hurricanes (10-10, 2-6). They shot 56 percent from the floor on the night and 69.9 percent in the second half.

In the first half, when Wells didn’t attempt a shot and sat with two quick fouls, the Terps leaned on Layman (15 points) and Smotrycz (15 points) to lead the way. The two forwards each had eight points in the first half, and the Terps’ quick ball movement against Miami’s matchup zone defense helped the team take a one-point lead into halftime.

“I thought we shared the ball and got them out of their zone early,” Turgeon said. “We really executed.”

With Wells back in the second half, the Terps offense improved, and they built a 10-point lead. But the Terps were still plagued by defensive lapses that allowed the Hurricanes to stay within striking distance.

Behind guards Rion Brown (25 points) and Manu Lecomte (19 points), Miami shot 50 percent on the night.

“Our defense is just not quite there,” Turgeon said.

Those issues were put on display as Miami staged its late comeback. After taking a 71-61 lead with 1:45 left, the Terps sent Miami to the free-throw line twice in a span of 49 seconds and then allowed guard Garrius Adams to slice into the lane and cut the lead to three.

On the other end of the floor, guard Seth Allen twice missed free throws that came on the front end of one-and-ones to give Miami extra chances. And with 19 seconds left, the Terps allowed Brown to get free and drain a game-tying 3-pointer.

Still, the Terps didn’t see a need to panic. Turgeon didn’t need to use a timeout after Brown’s three, either. He simply allowed Wells to take control of the ball and asked the rest of the Terps to give him space.

“We had talked in previous timeouts about what we would run late if we had to run late in the shot clock, and that was one of the plays we were going to run,” Turgeon said. “[Wells] made it. He was feeling good.”

Turgeon admitted afterward that he was hoping Wells would drive to the basket rather than attempt a long-range jumper. But the third-year coach, like his players, trusted Wells to make the right play.

And the guard from Raleigh, N.C., who scored 13 of his team’s final 15 points, did plenty to validate that faith.

“The best play, I thought, was a three,” Wells said, with a laugh. “And I made it, God willing.”

[ READ MORE: MBB: Terps vs. Miami ]