The Maryland Terrapins, led by balanced scoring and a suffocating defense, upset the 13th-ranked Iowa State Cyclones 72-63 to capture the CBE Hall of Fame Classic Championship in Kansas City.
Four Terrapins scored in double figures and the Cyclones missed their first nine shots of the second half which allowed the Terrapins to build a 15-point second half lead and endure a late Cyclone charge to improve their record to (5-0).
Maryland junior Jake Layman and freshman Jared Nickens each led the team in scoring with 15 points. Layman also snagged six rebounds and had two assists. Senior leader Dez Wells contributed 14 points and collected a team-high nine rebounds. He also had four assists and was named to the All-Tournament team.
Point guard Melo Trimble scored 11 points, collected three rebounds to go along with three assists and three steals. He scored 31 points in the semifinal victory over Arizona State and was named the MVP of the Classic.
Meanwhile, Iowa State (3-1) entered the game averaging 86 points per game while shooting 52.4 percent from the floor. Against Maryland’s stingy defense they only scored 63 points on 29.7 percent shooting from the floor, including only 6-27 from the three-point arc.
The first half each team battled for the lead with Maryland ahead 37-34 at the break. In the beginning of the second half the Cyclones went ice-cold and never recovered, falling behind 43-34 until a Georges Niang jumper cut the Terrapin lead to 43-36 with 14:32 to play in the game.
Maryland answered with stellar play from their freshman. Besides Nickens who was hitting clutch runners in the lane, fellow first-year player Dion Wiley hit a three from the corner to give Maryland a 10 point lead at 46-36 with 14:10 to go. The Terps built the lead on a 9-2 run.
When the Cyclones went on a run to cut the lead to 51-46 on a Niang 3-pointer with 10:18 to play, Nickens hit shots to counter their run and scored eight straight points to help the Terps maintain a 54-46 lead with 9:51 to play in the game.
Maryland had an answer for each Cyclone charge and maintained a comfortable margin and withstood a late Iowa State rally. The Cyclones cut the lead to 69-63 on a Bryce Dejean-Jones layup with 34 seconds to play but that was as close as they got.
The Cyclones, ended the second half the way it began by missing their last four three pointers and the Terps made their free throw shots to close out the win in coach Mark Turgeon’s home state of Kansas.
Maryland’s Damonte Dodd scored four points and collected five rebounds to go along with one assist and one blocked shot. Another freshman who came up big was 7-1 forward Michal Cekovsky. He contributed four points, collected eight rebounds and blocked two shots.
Iowa State was led in scoring by Dejean-Jones with 17 points and he also led the team with seven rebounds. Niang, who was averaging 20 points per game, was held to 10 points and collected five rebounds in a losing effort.
