The 17th-ranked Maryland Terrapins had a record-setting, 77-71 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes at Value City Arena.
The win gave the Terps a (20-2, 8-1 Big Ten) record and the best start to a season in program history. They are ridding a seven game winning streak, are undefeated on the road and are tied with Wisconsin for first place in conference play.
They were again led by freshman Justin Jackson who had 22 points and 12 rebounds, his second straight game with a double-double having dropped a career-high 28 and 10 on the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Jackson may have been the star but the hero was guard Melo Trimble who shook off a poor shooting night to score Maryland’s final seven points to close out the victory.
With 2:02 to go and the Terp’s ahead 70-69, he calmly sank a three from the top of the key making the score 73-69. the Buckeye’s Marc Loving hit a basket making the score 73-71 and Trimble responded with a runner in the lane that bounced around the rim and finally found its way into the basket for a 75-71 Terp’s lead with 32 seconds to go in the game.
He was then fouled and sank both free throws with 13 seconds to go to ice the victory.
His finish should not come as a surprise since Maryland is 29-6 including 9-1 this season in games decided by six points or less with Trimble in the lineup.
Trimble finished with 13 points, four assists and three rebounds.
Freshman point guard Anthony Cowan finished with 11 points and five assists and freshman Kevin Huerter added nine points, four assists and four blocks.
The three fantastic freshmen starters finished with 42 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists.
In the first half Maryland jumped out to a 10-3 lead and had a 20-19 advantage with 10 minutes to go before halftime. The lead seesawed back and forth and Maryland took their largest first half lead at 42-36 into the break.
Maryland never trailed in the second half and five times had a 10 point lead but Ohio State would rally and a layup by the Buckeye’s Jae’Sean Tate made the score 68-67 with 4:07 to go and setting up the exciting finish.
The Terps shot 49 percent from the field and were 10 of 26 from three-point range. They hit 13 of 17 free throws and won the rebounding battle 33-29.
Meanwhile, Ohio State shot 48 percent from the field was seven of 17 from beyond the arc and made 12 of 17 shots from the charity stripe.
The Buckeyes were led by Tate who ended the game with 20 points, four rebounds and four assists and Loving who finished with 18 points, five rebounds and three assists in a losing effort for the (13-10, 3-7) Buckeyes.
