A Terps rewind: A Christmas miracle in Illinois

The Maryland Terrapins rallied late to win an improbable overtime thriller, a 92-91 gift against the Illinois Fighting Illini at State Farm Arena.

The game was a real rollercoaster with Maryland jumping out to a 45-26 halftime lead that ballooned to 22 points in the second half but they did not put the Fighting Illini away and it almost cost them a historic heartbreaking loss.

Instead it was Illinois that suffered defeat right when it appeared that they would hand the Terps their worst defeat ever. Never had they had a lead so large and then lost the game.

With the score 75-73 Fighting Illini, all they had to do was inbound the ball with 4.6 seconds to play and they would win.

Instead, Maryland caught a hugh break when their inbounds half court heave bounced out of bounds with no time going off the clock.

Maryland could not believe their good fortune as they were now able to inbound the ball on their side of the court with the same amount of time on the clock.

The pass went to Kevin Huerter who launched a three-pointer from the left baseline that bounced off of the rim and into the waiting paw of the Terp’s Bruno Fernando who used the backboard to bank in the tying shot with less than a second to play in regulation. A desperate heave by the Fighting Illini was off the mark and the Terps had new life.

The overtime period was dominated by the Terp’s Anthony Cowan who scored nine points in the extra period including the game winner. With the score tied 91-91, Cowan drove to the basket and was fouled.

He went to the line and made the first free throw to give the Terps a 92-91 lead and then intentionally clanked the second one off the rim which ran the remaining one second off of the clock and the Terps were finally able to celebrate and exhilarating win while improving to (7-3, 1-1 Big Ten).

Maryland’s Big-Three Sophomores showed up.

Cowan scored a career-high 27 points and was joined by Justin Jackson who had a season-high 20 points and six rebounds and Huerter who finished with 17 points and seven boards.

Fernando added 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds along with the second most important shot of the game for Maryland.

Maryland started the game on fire jumping out to a 10-0 lead forcing an Illinois timeout with 15:57 to go in the first half.

Illinois rallied and the game was 14-11 Terps with 10:37 to go before halftime.

Maryland then went on an 18-7 run to take a 32-18 lead with 6:27 to go before the break and the lead increased to 19 at 45-26 at the half.

Maryland shot an incredible 73 percent in the first frame making 19 of 26 shots while hitting five of seven three-pointers.

Meanwhile, they held the Fighting Illini to 32 percent shooting in the first half including a dismal two of 14 from long distance.

But the beauty of college basketball is that everything can flip flop when you are at home and that’s what happened for the Fighting Illini who shot nearly 70 percent in the second half including hitting five of 10 from beyond the arc.

As soon as the Terps had their largest lead at 52-30 with 17:27 to go Illinois, gave credit to their name and came fighting back.

All they did was go on their own 27-11 run and cut the Terps lead to 63-57 with 9:41 to play in the game and Maryland was suddenly in trouble.

The game remained close and a free throw by the Illini’s Aaron Jordan somehow tied the game at 69-69.

But with the Fighting Illini in the lead at 75-73, the home team could not complete the comeback as both teams failed to finish in regulation and an Illinois turnover followed by a Terrapin put back set up the exciting overtime finish.

Illinois was led by Leron Black who had 18 points, Mark Alstork who scored 17 points and  Jordan who finished with 15 points in a losing effort for the (6-3, 0-2) Fighting Illini.