Up by one with less than 20 seconds left, No. 21 Maryland men’s basketball needed to stop Penn State in order to clinch a top four seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
Seth Lundy missed a straightaway three, but no Terp boxed out and Camren Wynter was wide open under the basket for a game winning put back with .5 seconds remaining.
Despite Jahmir Young putting up 26 points, the Terps blew a double-digit second half lead to Penn State (19-12, 10-10 Big Ten) to lose its final game of the regular season, 65-64. It was a tough way to finish the regular season for Maryland (20-11, 11-9 Big Ten), who finished the regular season 1-9 in conference road games.
“We’ve played well, gave good effort and were physical, but when you struggle at times defensively on the road, teams will take advantage of those moments,” coach Kevin Willard said.
Graduate student guard Jalen Pickett was in the groove on senior day. He was the only consistent scorer for the Nittany Lions, finishing the game with 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. But Pickett wasn’t alone as a key contributor, as graduate student guards Andrew Funk and Myles Dread shined on their senior days as well. The two combined for 25 points, shooting a combined 7-16 from three, and were crucial in orchestrating a second half comeback.
Maryland had four scorers in double digits, with Young leading the bunch with 26 and eight rebounds. Sophomore forward Julian Reese had 12 points and five rebounds, senior guard Don Carey chipped in with 11 points, and junior guard Ian Martinez had 11 off the bench.
Maryland shot five more threes than twos in the first period, but ended up shooting 41.2% from three on 7-17 shooting. But the second half saw Willard stray away from this gameplan, as his team shot just 1-5 in the second half from deep.
Penn State came out of the gates with confidence as Pickett hit a step back three from a few feet beyond the three-point line and Funk stepped into a three in transition. This put the Nittany Lions up 10-6 within the first five minutes of the game.
The pace began to quicken on both ends, and the Maryland offense started to settle into the game. A 10-0 run from the Terps gave them a 14-10 lead, with Young scoring seven of those points.
A few minutes later Willard’s defense started to fluster Penn State again, forcing a scoring drought that lasted over eight minutes. Maryland did it through tough man defense and bringing an occasional double on Pickett when he drove into the paint.
During this period, Martinez went 3-3 on threes off the bench to help a 14-0 run from the Terps. After being down early in the first half, Maryland was suddenly up 28-15 with 5:19 left until halftime.
Maryland maintained its lead through the end of the first half, as Young made another clutch three near the top of the key inside the final two minutes. The half ended with two great shots from both sides; Carey hit a fadeaway midrange jumper on a rare attempt for him that’s not a three, then Pickett ran the length of the floor and drained a three on the run at the buzzer as Maryland went into the half up 35-22.
The offense for the Nittany Lions started to click at the start of the second half, shooting 6-10 from the floor in the first seven minutes. But Maryland’s offense continued to make big plays, starting to take advantage of Penn State’s lack of size down low as it often drove in the paint. Young flashed his skills as he cut backdoor for a layup, grabbed a defensive rebound at the other end, and then drove the length of the court and got a layup plus the foul.
About halfway through the second half, the Nittany Lions started to gain momentum down the stretch. A corner three from Funk and a pull up three from graduate senior guard Myles Dread cut Maryland’s lead to just seven, as Penn State seemed to sense it could pull off the win.
Funk and Dread struck again with back-to back-threes with under five minutes left to cut Maryland’s lead to five at 59-54.
Now down just three with two minutes left, Funk hit a long two in the corner and Wynter got a wide open layup under the basket to put Penn State up by one with 43 seconds remaining.
Following a timeout, Maryland cooked up a great play which found Reese wide open off of a screen for a layup which put the Terps up by one with 19 seconds to go.
But the basket wasn’t enough as Wynter’s shot was the winner.
Maryland now finished the regular season with two-straight losses on the road to unranked teams, and will be back in action at the Big Ten Tournament this weekend.
Willard says the team will look back at some key plays from the loss leading up to the postseason next week.
“The biggest things we’ll look at from today will be the possessions that got them back into the game as we get ready for Thursday,” Willard said.
