Terps beat Kansas State win Barclays Classic
The Maryland Terrapins aka the “Comeback Kids” rallied late to beat the Kansas State Wildcats, 69-68 and with it became the New York holiday weekend champions in the Barclays Center Classic.
The Terps, who are (7-0) and have had to come back in every game but two, were led by their comeback player, star guard Melo Trimble, who had a fabulous freshman year and some said had a sophomore slump last season.
A day after matching his career high with 31 points against the Richmond Spiders, an 88-82 overtime victory in a game where they came back from their largest deficit of the season, 14 points, Trimble scored the winning basket, a driving layup with 6.6 seconds to go to help his team secure their seventh straight win.
The Wildcats had a chance to win the game but their last second shot was off the mark and the Terrapin team all ran towards Trimble, piling on top of him in a heap of joy. He was also named MVP of the Classic.
Trimble did everything for Maryland down the stretch. He scored the Terps final six points. Down 66-63 with 2:12 to go, Trimble hit two fouls shots to make the score 66-65 with 1:59 remaining in the game. Kansas State scored to make it 68-65 but a steal by Trimble gave the ball back to Maryland.
He hit a layup with 21 seconds to play making the score 68-67. He rebounded the Wildcat’s miss, brought the ball up court and drove for the winning layup to secure the uplifting win against a strong Kansas State squad.
He led the team in scoring with 18 points, had two rebounds one assist and one steal. He was helped off the bench by seven-foot one forward Michael Cekovsky who scored a career-high 16 points, mostly from close range and collected a game-high eight rebounds.
Freshman Justin Jackson scored 11 points, had four rebounds and four blocked shots. Another freshman, Kevin Huerter, coming back to his home state, added eight points and six rebounds to the winning effort.
The Terps jumped out to a quick 11-6 lead but the Wildcats rallied to tie the game at 11-11 with 13:23 to go in the first half. the game was evenly matched and the score was 16-16 with 10:43 to play before halftime.
The Terps would later open up a nine point lead at 33-24 with 1:22 to go in the half on a three-pointer by Huerter, but the Wildcats would get a three-point play to cut the Terps lead to 35-29 at the break.
In the second half, the Terps had a slim lead or the game was tied until the 4:44 mark when the Wildcats took the lead, 58-56. The Terps regained the lead at 59-58 on a Jackson three with 4:25 to go and the game was tied at 61-61 with 3:18 left in the game.
The Wildcat’s D. J. Johnson hit two free throws to give his team a 66-63 lead and Kansas State was in front until Trimble hit the game winning bucket.
Most of the important stats were about even. Maryland’s freshman Justin Jackson was named to the All-Classic team. He scored 16 points and collected seven rebounds in the opening win over Richmond.
Johnson led Kansas State in scoring with a career-high 26 points. Wesley Iwundu added 16 points, a team-high 11 rebounds and three assists in a losing effort for the (5-1) Wildcats.
