The return of point guard Seth Allen sparked the Maryland Terrapin offense allowing them to hold off a pesky Tulsa Golden Hurricane team and get a much needed non-conference win, 85-74 at Comcast Center.
Allen, expected to see limited action, sparked a 25-10 run in the first half which allowed the Terps to overcome a 25-10 deficit at 9:03 to play in the first half and go in at the break tied at 35.
Allen, coming off of a foot injury, played 21 minutes and ended the game with 15 points and three assists. The win improved the Terps record to (8-5) and gave coach Mark Turgeon his 300th career victory.
As the teams traded baskets in the second half, the turning point in the game came when Tulsa coach Danny Manning, who was a college teammate of Maryland coach Turgeon, was given a double technical foul and was ejected from the game.
Terp Jake Layman, who finished the game with 12 points, hit four straight free throws which gave Maryland their biggest lead of the game to that point at 56-47 with 10:35 to play in the game. Tulsa never recovered.
The teams traded baskets after the ejection and an Allen free throw made it 62-52 with 8:03 to play in the game. A basket by Tulsa’s leading scorer James Woodard, who had a game-high 25 points, made the score 68-62 with 5:23 to play in the game.
A Dez Wells runner made it 70-62 with 3:06 to play and a tip in by big man Jonathan Graham gave the Terps a 72-62 lead with 2:34 left to play. Wells led the Terps in scoring, shooting seven for 10 while scoring 18 points.
To their credit, Tulsa never gave up and kept hitting late three-pointers. A trey by Golden Hurricane Pat Swilling Jr. (12 points) cut the Maryland lead to 79-74 with 31 seconds to play in the contest.
Maryland got a late spark from guard Nick Faust, who scored seven of his 13 points in the final minute of the game to help secure the win.
The Terps had the rebounding edge at 43-34 as Wells led the way with 10 rebounds. This was the second all-time meeting of the two teams and the loss left Tulsa with a record of (4-9).
