In a back-and-forth game that featured 13 lead changes, it was Maryland men’s basketball who fell short at home as 15th-ranked Marquette stormed out of College Park handing the Terps a 78-74 loss.
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Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Derik Queen tied for a team-high 24 points each on combined 19-of-30 shooting, including 25 of Maryland’s 34 points on 11-of-14 shooting in the first-half with Marquette struggling to slow Gillespie’s floaters and Queen’s soft touch around the rim. Maryland shot 52.7% from the field, including nearly 58% in the first half.
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But in the end, Maryland had no answer for Marquette guard Kam Jones as he scored 18 of his 28 points in the second-half to close the game.
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Maryland jumped out to an early 6-2 lead before Marquette rode an 8-0 run into the first TV timeout, forcing the Terps into three turnovers, before Selton Miguel ignited Xfinity Center after completing an and-one opportunity then a midrange jumper to give the Terps the lead right back.
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The sequence would foreshadow the rest of the half as the teams traded the lead ten times with no team leading by more than four in the first half.
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Marquette’s pressure was a force for Maryland all night after forcing eight turnovers in the first 12 minutes before Maryland settled down, committing just one turnover and shooting 7-of-10 from the field over the final 7:25.
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That start with DeShawn Harris-Smith and Jay Young leading the backcourt as Marquette turned to its zone defense, pushing the Terps into a two-minute-plus scoring drought to retake the lead. Just as Kevin Willard turned to Rodney Rice and Julian Reese to provide a spark, it would be DeShawn Harris-Smith to step up with consecutive layups before a Ja’Kobi Gillespie triple pushed Maryland’s lead to four, forcing Marquette to call a timeout ahead of the final media timeout of the half. Derik Queen scored Maryland’s final five points of the half, giving the Terps a 34-30 lead at the break, only to score the first four points of the second half.
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But holding onto a four-point lead after Derik Queen's 17th point, Marquette would go on a 7-0 run over the next 1:36 to retake the lead and quiet the Xfinity crowd.
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Yet it would be none other than Queen and Gillespie leading the surge to keep the Terps within reach as Queen’s free throws midway through the second half tied the game back up once more. Rodney Rice would steal the spotlight after turning a steal into a triple, giving Maryland a 59-56 and forcing Marquette to call timeout to quiet the crowd.
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Marquette would then go on a 9-0 run – with Kam Jones accounting for all nine – to take a lead they never gave back. The run extended the lead to nine, marking the largest lead for either team on the night.
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With the lead growing in the final minutes with optimism waning inside the Xfinity Center, the Terps would surge into the final minute to give themselves one last chance.
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A three from DeShawn Harris-Smith with 54 seconds left cut it to five, then after a pair of Stevie Mitchell free throws, Ja’Kobi Gillespie would add his final three of the game to make it a four-point game. Then the energy picked up after Maryland forced a five-second violation, an extra possession that Harris-Smith capitalized on after a layup trimmed the deficit to two with just 36 seconds left.
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Maryland would catch its last break after Kam Jones missed a pair of free-throws, giving the Terps a chance to tie or take the lead with 20 seconds left. But with a chance to tie it at the free-throw line with 15 seconds left, Harris-Smith missed both free-throws to cement the Terps’ first loss.
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Maryland will return to action on Tuesday night to host Canisius for a 7 PM tip.