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Anthony Fama

Maryland battles through double overtime, tops Northwestern 94-87 for first Big Ten win

It wasn’t pretty, but after 50 minutes of basketball, Maryland pulled off their first Big Ten win of the season after topping Northwestern 94-87 on the road.


"Proud of the effort and the resiliency of the guys on our team,” Maryland head coach Danny Manning said after the win. “We stayed the course, we thought next play and we found a way to get a road win, get a win in the Big Ten which they’re hard to do, especially on the road.”


Northwestern’s Robbie Beran and Boo Buie got the scoring going with two deep threes in transition, while the Terps scoring started with Hakim Hart who made a three and tough lay-in through the lane. The first four minutes have plagued Maryland all season, and this game was no different. Outside of Hart, the Terps could not get anything consistent going on offense and defensively struggled to find their rhythm as they trailed the Wildcats by three. Luckily for Maryland, the slow start didn’t put them in the usual deep hole as the Terps trailed by no more than six all half.


Maryland's struggles continued out of the timeout. On their first offensive possession, Danny Manning tried to run a play for Xavier Green which resulted in a lackluster attempt from deep by Fatts Russell, and the ensuing two possessions resulted in a turnover and airball from Julian Reese. Trailing by five, Fatts was able to get into transition and get the Terps on the board, cutting their deficit to three. Both teams were poor on both sides of the ball thus far, but to close out the stretch before the media break, Maryland was able to string together a few stops and force a shot clock violation to force Northwestern to make just two of their last 12 shots from the field.


With a 10-7 deficit coming out of the under-12 media timeout, each squad went straight to their big men with baskets from Reese and Pete Nance on each team's first possession. Maryland had it within one, but a missed rebound off an air-balled three-pointer gave Northwestern the chance to get another look after Ian Martinez collapsed to the paint and let his man wide for three. The Terps found themselves trailing by six through twelve minutes of play thanks to shooting 29% from the field and 14% from three, but Northwestern poor shooting has kept Maryland close.

Exiting the timeout, the Terps looked insistent on swarming the paint on defense and helping off screens to try and block passing lanes. Wahab and Fatts forced a Ryan Young turnover before Wahab took it right to Young before finishing with the right hand. Preceding a couple of lousy possessions from both teams, Eric Ayala decided it was time he got going. First, he knocked down a corner three and headed to the line to complete the four-point play, then converting on another and-one, this time from the shaded region. Maryland was able to knot it at twenty-one before Ty Berry faded away off a screen to knock down the mid-range and take the lead.


After the final media timeout of the possession, Ayala found himself open off the screen to get himself into double figures and gave Maryland a two-point lead before Martinez came up with a huge block on the other end. The Terps looked to have finally found their rhythm as the half winded down, put on full display as Scott found a slashing Hart who finished over two defenders to get himself in double-digit scoring. An impatient Terps team gave up the last shot of the half, though, and allowed the Wildcats to tie the game at 30 going into the half. But the signs of a more assertive Ayala began to flash, foreshadowing what was to come in the final 20 minutes of regulation.


“I think I said it after our game last game we were right on the line. We had a couple moments in this game where we were kind of there before in other games and we had the lead or we were up one or down one,” Ayala added. “We come across that point a lot in the games that we play, so I just was trying to tell the team you know, this is where we got to make that next step at.”


The second half began with the Terps looking to turn defense into the offense. Hart showed a great example of this as he cruised past Berry for an easy score off of a Wildcat turnover. Scott added five points of his own in the first five minutes to keep this game tied at thirty-eight.

Northwestern once again got to the hoop out of the first media break, but Fatts responded with an NBA-range trey of his own to take a one-point lead. After the two traded jumpers, a defensive lapse by Maryland gave Elijah Williams three offensive rebounds and an extra point opportunity which turned into two more offensive rebounds and a score by Young, giving Julian Reese his fourth foul with twelve minutes and change left. Williams would miss the front end of the free throw attempt, but yet another offensive rebound led to another second chance bucket as Northwestern reclaimed a 50-48 lead prompting Maryland head coach Danny Manning to call a timeout.

The Terps responded with a quick scoring run to retake a 50-48 lead with 11:13 in the half. Maryland called a play for Scott out of the timeout which resulted from a dazzling layup, and on the next possession, Ayala made two of three from the line. Both teams went cold for the next two minutes before Pete Nance hit an open three to regain the Wildcat lead. A beautiful double through the legs, step-back three, and another deep ball running back in transition for Ayala but

Maryland ahead by two, 56-54, at the under-8 media timeout, the seniors' eighteen points at this point in the game led all scorers and kept Maryland in position to win this game.

Consecutive fouls for Maryland gave Northwestern the opportunity to take back the lead, and more importantly left Fatts in the game with four fouls, but it was time for Donta Scott to emerge as he responded with a putback dunk and drew a foul to get those four points back. The scorching hot Ayala kept firing from deep, connecting on his fifth three of the game and then forcing an and-one on a strong drive on the next possession. Maryland came back with a really strong defensive possession, where they found themselves in vulnerable positions on multiple occasions but continually helping and closing out to get the stop.

Carrying a slim four-point advantage with just over three minutes left, Reese fouled out for the Terps which thinned out the frontcourt. Maryland turned to the small lineup once more with Scott playing the five, able to find himself a hole at the free-throw line and knock down the jumper to maintain the lead down the stretch. With just over a minute in the game, Maryland was bailed out of a quick possession with a crucial missed layup by Ryan Greer, and Fatts found Hart in possession for a tough bucket to stretch their lead to six with just under thirty seconds left in the game.

Northwestern would turnover and foul on the ensuing possession, giving the Terps a chance to ice the game, but a travel from Donta Scott gave the Wildcats life. Nance made the Terps pay once more, drilling a triple to cut the deficit to 72-69, and another Maryland turnover with an additional flagrant on Donta Scott gave Northwestern a chance to make it a one-possession game and a chance to win. After making both, Scott was called for a shooting foul on a drive Nance attempt with 11 seconds left but Maryland caught a break after Nance was only able to make one, sending the game into the first overtime tied at 72.

Manning said postgame he saw a picture of Donta’s “blow” that drew a flagrant before offering his remarks. While Manning added Maryland needs to “do a much better job of maintaining our poise,” he also noted the physical play all game. “I think plays like that are really hard to stomach to a certain extent because there's a lot of grabbing and pushing and elbow going on all game long, so they just happened to call those two particular instances.”


Maryland found themselves with the ball first and was able to get Wahab to the line where he converted one of two. On the other end, the Terps gave up yet another second chance opportunity, followed by a three from Audige which gave Northwestern a 77-73 lead. As Manning has emphasized paint touches and free throw attempts, Maryland was able to get Fatts and Ayala to the line who knocked down their free throws to cut the lead to two, but the thin frontcourt continued to plague the Terps. Nance knocked down a free throw jumper to keep the lead, and Hart made one of two at the other end to bring the game to one. A Bowie runner with 40 seconds gave Northwestern a 3 point lead, but an incredible Euro step into a fadeaway gave Russell an and-one opportunity, tying the game at 83 with just 34 seconds left.

On Northwestern's final possession of overtime, they found Greer open for a corner three, but the miss resulted in an offensive rebound which allowed the Wildcats to call time and set up a play with three seconds to go. They drew up a subpar play which gave Fatts a chance to get off a shot from half-court, setting the stage for the second overtime.


All game felt both teams were able to counter the other’s scoring, but that would come to an end in the final overtime. “I thought we did a good job of contesting shots, but we contested shots for the most part throughout the ballgame and they had 11 points and in the first overtime and so did we,” Manning added. “And so, you know, it was the first half the first two I mean, it was a mirror ballgame. 30-30 after the first, 42-42, 11-11 after the first overtime, and, you know, for us, we continue to make shots and they probably missed some shots they normally make but that's how it goes.”

Maryland made their first three shots of the second overtime period to give them a four-point lead with three minutes to go. On the first play of the Fatts set up Green for a lob which was quickly responded by Greer for Northwestern. The next time down the floor, Hart converted with a nice baseline step back, followed by a Russell basket from the right elbow. Maryland did a nice job forcing Northwestern into mistakes and taking tough shots in the first three minutes of the period. Nance also exited the game with a leg injury, and on their very next possession, Maryland played great defense and forced a shot clock violation. The Terps picked up three offensive rebounds which took the clock all the way down to 46 seconds and forced the Wildcats to foul. This two-minute stretch deflated the Wildcats and allowed Maryland to regain momentum before giving up three offensive rebounds and a basket which cut the lead to three with just 27 seconds remaining. After Fatts knocked down two free-throws of his own, Hart all but sealed the game with a huge block with 15 seconds to go and Maryland survives in double overtime, 94-87. Ayala secured his first career double-double, finishing with 26 points and 11 rebounds while Fatts chimed in 23 points and 7 assists. Hart (18) and Scott (17) were the other two Terps to finish in double-figures.

“Just staying the course,” Manning adds. “A lot of times, you know, Donta fouls out, Julian files out. And [Qudus] comes in and plays great for us. He plays great defense, he knocks down free throws. He goes and gets some really big, timely rebounds in traffic and secures the basketball. So just across the board, all of our guys had the next play mentality and they stayed ready when their number was called. And we were fortunate enough to get a win, but we're very happy with it. And we got to use this to create some momentum going into our next game.”

Note: Maryland men’s basketball assistant Bruce Shingler has been suspended 30 days for a violation of his employment agreement, effective Wednesday. Sophomore guard Marcus Dockery was unavailable for Wednesday’s game due to a death in the family.

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