In a tie game with about three minutes left in the fourth quarter against No. 7 Ohio State, the Maryland men’s lacrosse team found itself in a familiar spot. The Terps played one-goal games against Yale, Notre Dame, Villanova, Albany and Rutgers this season.

But unlike those contests, this one didn’t feature the Terps’ star attackman Colin Heacock, who injured his ankle against the Scarlet Knights on April 16.

Without Heacock, No. 2 Maryland failed to record a go-ahead goal in the final three minutes of regulation Saturday. In overtime, Ohio State earned the win with a sudden-death conversion.

“You play with the guys that are able to play,” coach John Tillman said. “We have enough good players that if somebody goes down, there’s an opportunity of somebody else to go up and make a play. Colin’s been a guy who’s done a lot for us, but around here if a guy goes down … we always have a next-man-up mentality.”

Maryland’s attacking trio of Heacock, Matt Rambo and Dylan Maltz rank second nationally among active offensive units in goals (291) and points (423). This season, they’ve combined to score 70 goals in 12 contests.

Before Heacock sat out at Ohio State, the trio had played together in 39 consecutive games, a streak dating back to April 2015.

Earlier in the week, Tillman expected Heacock to participate against the Buckeyes, but he changed his mind shortly before the showdown. In the first quarter, Heacock stood on the sidelines in his uniform and gear, but he switched to regular clothes after it became clear he wouldn’t compete.

While a win over Ohio State would have clinched a share of the Big Ten regular season title, Tillman explained sitting Heacock “just felt like right thing to do” given the team’s long-term ambitions.

The Terps play No. 8 Johns Hopkins in their season finale next weekend before beginning the Big Ten tournament the following Thursday. And after two straight national championship defeats, they hope to return to the Final Four in Foxborough, Massachusetts, at the end of May.

So, while Heacock was in contention to start against the Buckeyes, Tillman believed keeping him out would be the best move.

“We thought he looked pretty good during the week,” Tillman said. “We felt like everything looked very, very positive for him to play. The last 24 hours, we just made the decision [to sit him].”

Though Maryland jumped ahead, 6-1, over Ohio State, its sloppiness in the attacking zone allowed the Buckeyes to come back. During a 20-minute scoreless stretch ranging from the second to fourth quarter, the Terps committed five turnovers.

The uncharacteristic giveaways, along with missed scoring chances, allowed Ohio State to find second-half success on the counter-attack, fueling its turnaround.

“When you have turnovers, that hurts you,” Tillman said. “And then we didn’t finish some shots, and they got some opportunities in transition.”

While Tillman acknowledged facing a top-10 opponent without Heacock was a challenge, he claimed his absence shouldn’t have affected the result.

“If that happens again with a different player,” Tillman said, “we’ve got to have another guy ready to step up.”