Running down in transition, Jahmir Young shoveled a pass to a cutting Julian Reese as the forward went up and dunked on Patrick Suemnick, with Reese eventually riding on his shoulders while hanging on the rim.
This bucket put No. 8-seed Maryland men’s basketball up by five, but the game came down to the wire against No. 9-seed West Virginia.
Despite getting a look at a game winning three, the Mountaineers couldn’t get it to fall and Maryland advanced to the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament with a 67-65 win.
With under a minute to go and up by three, Young turned the ball over and gave it back to the Mountaineers. West Virginia senior forward Tre Mitchell made a layup with eight seconds to go to cut it to a one-point game before Young was fouled on an inbounds, sending him to the line.
He made the first but missed the second, allowing the Mountaineers to advance the ball and get fifth year guard Kedrian Johnson a clean look at a three for the win. But Johnson was way off, giving the Terps a first round win.
Reese had a big impact in the second half, scoring 13 of his 17 points in the second half. He also had nine rebounds, three blocks and three assists in the biggest game of his life. His relentless attacking of the rim played a pivotal role in the Terps’ victory.
Senior guard Hakim Hart stepped up with 15 points, four assists and two steals, and senior forward Donta Scott had 11 points and seven rebounds.
Johnson had an unreal game for the Mountaineers, scoring 27 points on 8-13 shooting from the field, but scored only four points in the final 15 minutes of the game.
Maryland coach Kevin Willard mentioned that the team went to zone to take away the iso, but still couldn’t keep Johnson in check.
“That’s a bad man right there,” Willard said. “He’s a tough matchup. I’m a big fan of his.”
The Mountaineers started the game off on the right foot, going on an 14-0 run after going down 4-2. Maryland had trouble figuring out its offense early on, committing five turnovers in the first five minutes of the game.
That run just kept on increasing, as the Terps failed to score from the field for over eight minutes after scoring the first four points.
“At that time it’s battle time, time to lock in,” Scott said. “Do some of the thing[s] that you probably weren’t doing before, 50-50 ones.”
But when the shots finally started to fall for the Terps, they were able to get into their full court press and pressure the Mountaineers to flip the game on its head.
A 16-2 Maryland run saw its offense find a rhythm, hitting multiple big threes off assists, including a Young three from the top of the key to give Maryland its first lead of the game at 22-21 with 6:09 remaining in the half.
“As the game went on, coach made the adjustments and we were able to adjust and make the right plays and make the right decisions and get back on defense and match their physicality over ours,” Reese said.
Down the stretch it was a back-and-forth affair, with both sides trying to counter the other with big shots.
With under two minutes to go, both teams were tied before Scott backed his defender down and connected on a right handed hook shot to take the lead. The Mountaineers responded soon after, with Stevenson hitting a tough pullup in the paint, but graduate student forward Patrick Emilien hit an uncharacteristic fadeaway long two with 34 seconds left to give the Terps a 32-30 lead at the half.
Maryland finished the first half much more mindful of the ball than in the beginning stages of the game. The Terps committed six turnovers in the first six-and-a-half minutes, but only two in the last 13 minutes. Meanwhile, West Virginia committed seven turnovers over the last 13-plus minutes of the first half, flipping the game on its head.
Reese started the second half on a powerful note, coming free off a screen before going up through contact and finishing for an and-one to go up by four. That was followed up with Carey doing what he does best, an in rhythm three to take a seven-point lead.
Johnson got West Virginia the lead back with 10 straight points by himself, getting two layups to fall and the foul in addition to converting a four-point play. Suddenly, the Terps had gone from up seven to down three in less than two minutes.
In a back-and-forth second half, Maryland hung on and eventually got its first NCAA Tournament victory in two years. The Terps will play the winner of Alabama vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
