There wasn’t much Rodney Rice could do.
Everything was falling for Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton, and Rice stayed with the guard as he dribbled between his legs and stepped back three feet beyond the arc.
With Rice’s hand in his face, Thornton rose and banked a 3-pointer through the net with seven seconds on the clock.
The guard’s make came two-and-a-half minutes after he drilled a three from nearly the same spot to put Ohio State ahead for the first time. No. 18 Maryland men’s basketball — which led by as much as 17 — had no answer for Thornton, who handed the Terps a 73-70 loss Thursday in Columbus, Ohio.
“We lost him and he hit a big three [with 2:10 left]. Then obviously, I thought our defense at the end was really good,” coach Kevin Willard said. “We switched out, we covered everything.”
Thornton didn’t make a shot until there were three minutes left in the first half, and it looked like the Terps could have a repeat performance of their 24-point win over the Buckeyes on Dec. 8.
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He had one of his worst outings of the year in that game while Maryland point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie out-dueled him with 23 points. The roles were reversed in the teams’ second meeting — Thornton scored 31 and played all 40 minutes while Gillespie, who’s been the Terps’ most consistent performer, had an uncharacteristically cold night.
Willard said the Terps’ press was a big factor in their success against Thornton in the previous matchup, but he doesn’t deploy the same press on the road as he does at home.
“I mean, I thought we did a really good job [guarding Thornton] for the most part,” Willard said. “Even when he made a couple of tough twos, we were okay with that. We were still up six, up eight [most of the second half].”
The Terps had the size advantage, just as they did in December, with Buckeyes 7-footer Aaron Bradshaw being out.
Maryland capitalized off that early with its first eight points coming from Julian Reese and Derik Queen. Ohio State had 10 more paint points by the end of the night despite having a 30-pound disadvantage at each frontcourt spot.
Willard’s team made its first seven shots but pivoted from attacking the rim like it did at the start. Maryland started to rely heavily on Rice, who scored more than 15 points for the third straight game.
Reese, who had a game-high 14 points at the half, along with Rice’s 11 gave Maryland a 17-point lead with 3:30 left in the first. Thornton made sure that didn’t stay.
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The guard scored on three consecutive possessions and helped Ohio State end the first on a 10-2 run. Maryland led, 41-32, at the break.
Thornton’s first-half surge came without Gillespie on the floor due to foul trouble.
The Terps came out limp to start the second half — Ohio State cut its deficit to two possesions and Maryland went more than five minutes without a basket.
Rice then drained a corner 3-pointer, which was Maryland’s first in nearly 25 minutes. Another 3-pointer from fifth year guard Selton Miguel gave the Terps an 11-point advantage with just under nine minutes to go.
Maryland didn’t hit a triple from that point on, and its lead only deteriorated.
Ohio State made 11 of its last 15 field goals, with the last four by Thornton.
The junior’s final make was the loudest of them all. Gillespie and Miguel attempted to send it to overtime with a pair of 3-pointers, but neither shot fell.
Maryland could’ve walked out of Columbus with its first five-game Big Ten winning streak since 2021. Instead, the Terps blew a 17-point lead and lost their first game as a ranked team.
