The Maryland Terrapins rallied to win three straight games against local competition to improve to 4-0.
The Terps had no trouble with St. Mary’s College of Maryland winning, 93-45 but had to rally from a 13 point deficit late to beat the pesky Towson Tigers, 71-66 and the game against their cross-town rival the Georgetown Hoyas, a 76-75 victory, was an instant classic.
Trailing Georgetown by nine points at 68-59 with 2:21 to go on the road at the Verizon Center, things looked bleak for the Terps.
But one thing this young team had displayed and is modeled by their leader star guard Melo Trimble, is poise and confidence.
It also helped that the Hoyas had a complete meltdown.
Trimble scored four straight points on a layup and two foul shots making the score 68-63 with 1:38 to go.
After a Georgetown layup Maryland freshman Kevin Huerter sank a three pointer making the score 70-66 with 58 seconds left in the game.
Two free throws by the Hoyas made the score 72-66. fast forward to 19 seconds to go and the score 73-68, Georgetown foolishly fouled freshman Anthony Cowan as no time went off the clock.
He calmly sank both free throws and now the deficit was 73-70.
Georgtown was called for travelling on the inbounds play.
They fouled Cowan again with almost no time going off the clock and he made both free throws to make the score 73-72 with 18 seconds to go.
The teams traded baskets making the score 75-74 with 11 seconds to go. Again Georgetown struggled to get the ball inbounds and a trapping defense caused Tre Campbell to step out of bounds.
Trimble was fouled on the inbounds play with seven seconds to go and he sank both free throws to amazingly give his team a 76-75 lead.
Georgetown had one last chance to pull out the victory but the layup attempt by Jagan Mosely was cleanly blocked by Huerter to seal the unbelievable comeback win for Maryland, fueled by a late 17-7 run.
As the buzzer sounded the Terrapin bench erupted with delight and we saw Coach Mark Turgeon leaping with joy while the players were hugging and smiling about their good fortune.
Meanwhile, the Hoyas, who made 37 of 42 foul shots and were six of 15 on three-point attempts, were left wondering how they could have lost a game that seemed to be a sure victory a few minutes earlier.
Besides the free throw difference, Maryland made 17 of 22, and the shooting percentage, Maryland made 45 percent of their shots while the Hoyas shot at a 32 percent clip, the rest of the stats were about even.
It was the Terps poise and confidence down the wire that made the difference.
Maryland was led in scoring by Trimble who had 22 points. Four-star freshman Justin Jackson added 17 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Cowan finished with 11 points, five assists and three steals as the team’s new point guard and Huerter finished with six points and five rebounds.
Georgetown was led in scoring by L. J. Peak who had 21 points and Isaac Copeland who finished with 13 points and a team-high 13 rebounds in a losing effort for the Hoyas.
