October 26, 2017

Maryland puts away Indiana for another gritty Big Ten win

Anthony Cowan (0) and Justin Jackson (21) celebrate in Tuesday night's contest against Indiana. Photo courtesy of University of Maryland athletics.

COLLEGE PARK — After Monday’s mid-day practice, Maryland Coach Mark Turgeon expressed the need to suppress Indiana’s run-and-gun style, while bringing iron-fist-like physicality for Tuesday night’s primetime matinee.

Though passing their first true road test with no blemishes, picking up a 77-70 win at Michigan on Saturday, the “slap in the face” Nebraska dealt Maryland on New Year’s day still lingered; when the Terrapins squandered a double-digit lead in the final four minutes to lose 67-65.

On Tuesday night, Maryland followed Turgeon’s blueprint and executed down the stretch to put away Indiana with the world watching them on ESPN, 75-72.

Junior guard Melo Trimble led Maryland (15-2, 3-1 Big Ten) in the stat book with 18 points (8-for-10 from the free throw line) on a pedestrian 5 of 16 shooting and three assists. But no greater sequence and put-away energy topped Kevin Huerter’s two-play swing to lift Maryland out of a two-point deficit and into a three-point lead with less than two minutes remaining.

Trailing 70-68, Huerter, as poised as they come in college basketball’s Class of 2020, spotted up on the left wing, received a swing pass from fellow freshman Anthony Cowan and drilled the go-ahead 3 without hesitation to buzz the Xfinity Center crowd. Thirty seconds later, Huerter hauled in the rebound and frozen-roped an outlet pass to a wide-open Anthony Cowan in transition, who then finished the lay-in that gave Maryland a 73-70 lead with 1:13 remaining.

The flashy sequence fueled the energy required to put away Indiana, a team ranked No. 3 in the AP poll not too long ago. Hoosiers’ O.G. Anundoby hammered a thunderous dunk to bring Indiana within one with eight seconds to go, 73-72, but Trimble’s two free throws and a last second defensive stand was all the Terrapins needed.

Maryland hunkered down and held Indiana, a team that excels in transition and on the offensive glass, to five fast-break points and outscored them on second chance points, 15-11. 

The three freshman, Cowan (15 points on 6 of 9 shooting), Huerter (11 points and seven rebounds) and Jackson (11 points), combined for Maryland’s 34 of 75 points. 

Maryland held their largest lead at seven, 21-14, after a 9-2 run with just under nine to minutes to play in the first half. Indiana had their largest lead at five, twice, at the 12:09 mark (55-50) in the second and with 9:57 to go (60-55).

Damonte Dodd, tasked with a tall order of defending blue chip center Thomas Bryant because Michal Cekovsky is sidelined with a foot injury, blocked six shots inside and capped Bryant to six points on 2-for-8 shooting. On Indiana’s second to last possession, Dodd dislodged the ball from Bryant’s grasp and forced one of his two turnovers with 40 seconds to go.

Indiana guard James Blackmon registered a game-high 22 points on 9-for-15 shooting.

Maryland shot 43.9 percent (25 of 57) while Indiana shot 42.2 percent (27 of 64) overall and 43.5 percent from behind the arc (10 of 23).

Maryland travels to Illinois on Saturday, January 14, a team they’ve beaten already, 84-59, on Dec. 27.

 

About Kyle McFadden 339 Articles
Kyle McFadden is a graduate from Linganore High School's Class of 2014, a sports junkie and general news-hound. He got his start as a sports writer in January 2014 for Linganore's student-run newspaper The Lance, where he wrote 13 articles. McFadden then launched his own blog in October 2014 called The Beltway Dispatch covering collegiate, local high school and professional sports. Formally known as The Beltway Dispatch, McFadden and Evan Engelhard merged respective platforms in June 2015 to make what is now Maryland Sports Access. With baseball, basketball and golf experience, McFadden brings ample knowledge to the helm of MSA. McFadden covers a wide variety of sports in football, baseball, basketball, golf, hockey, lacrosse, soccer and specializes in the collegiate and high school levels. McFadden volunteers his time at Damascus Road Community Church -- serving as a mentor to the youth, basketball coach at the varsity and junior varsity levels, and leads a small group of high school sophomores every Wednesday night. Although he's only been around journalism since January 2014, he's a high school sports reporter for The Baltimore Sun and freelancer for The Frederick News-Post. McFadden's work has also appeared in DMV newspapers The Aegis, The Capital Gazette, The Daily Times (Delmarva Now), The Hometown Observer, Howard County Times, Germantown Pulse and The Towson Times. He's also won two Mike Powell Excellence in Journalism awards and has appeared on The Best of SNO, which showcases top student work of high school and college journalists. McFadden currently studies at Frederick Community College and plans to transfer to the University of Maryland in the fall of 2018 to work on a bachelor's degree in journalism with aspirations to be a national college basketball writer.
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