Maryland men’s basketball edges Northwestern, 94-87, in double-overtime thriller

(Photo Courtesy of Maryland Athletics.)

Maryland men'southward basketball had met its equal and the Terps guards were the deviation.

At each break, barring the games completion — halftime, end of regulation, end of first overtime — the 2 sides were tied. And, considering of the guard play, the Terps stood as the team that finished on pinnacle.

"The mindset is to go from tip to horn," interim caput jitney Danny Manning said. "And we were practiced in that regard. In terms of just staying locked and staying together and continued."

In the Terps (9-7, 1-4 B1G) commencement Big Ten win of the season, a 94-87 win over Northwestern (eight-6, 1-4 B1G), Eric Ayala soared to a career high 26 points and 11 boards, Hakim Hart steadied the law-breaking with a quiet eighteen points and Fatts Russell dominated the two overtime periods with 13 of Maryland's game-winning 22 points.

"All of our other games was kind of like this, simply nosotros just fell curt," Russell said. "And today I feel like we fought all the manner to the end."

Throughout the second half, a back-and-forth affair ensued and runs were exchanged. Then, Ayala began testing his range. Once more, on ii sequent scoring plays, like he had done on many occasions prior, Ayala stepped back for three before subsequently stepping into a 30-footer. Later on Northwestern erased the lead he created with his play, he created another with his fifth three of the game. This time, he swished a three drifting to his left.

But even as Ayala tied his career high with his 24th indicate, continued to balloon the lead and seemingly seal the game, the Terps withal managed to make matters worse for themselves and welcome Northwestern back into the contest.

Less than a minute remained and the Terps were upward vi points.

Miscommunication on defense allowed Northwestern's Pete Nance to trim the lead to three with a triple. A Donta Scott flagrant foul gave the Wildcats another pair of complimentary points. A poor rotation followed by a foul gave the Wildcats a take chances to take the lead with 11 seconds. But Northwestern could only tie, sending the two deadlocked teams to overtime — twice.

This time Russell came through down the stretch, slashing to the handbasket, hitting the iii signal play that sent the game to its second overtime and the 3 point play that iced the competition.

Both scores were plays he made deep in the paint, weaving through the towering big men Northwestern threw at him. He scored his vitalizing xiii overtime points in spite of sustaining four fouls just before the terminate of regulation.

"That was big time," Ayala said. "He was getting those fouls and I was like 'bro nosotros need you out here bro … ' He'due south only ambitious, we got aggressive guys and sometimes they get on the wrong terminate of the whistle."

Maryland men's basketball was a little over a month removed from when they initially played Northwestern on Dec. 5, and things went demonstrably amend in the Terps 2nd bout against the Wildcats.

Similar their start meeting, Hart stood out as the offense's consistent force. Unlike their initial meeting, Ayala fabricated sure to join and bleed huge shots throughout the opening half and for the residual of the game.

Before the halftime interruption, Ayala buried an and-i iii and an and-1 layup on consecutive scoring possessions, Hart made his first three shots and the pair finished the half with x points apiece.

Like their kickoff coming together, the Wildcats held the lead for the bulk of the opening period. Unlike the Terps' Large 10 debut, and every Big X contest since, Maryland didn't stumble to a deadening showtime and avoided surrendering a crushing deficit and battled its fashion throughout the contest.

Maryland and Northwestern were awfully alike and the Terps took advantage. The Wildcats didn't boast whatever 20-point scorers or player of the twelvemonth candidates and were as well searching for a win to conclude their own three-game slip.

And afterwards fittingly ending the half knotted at xxx points, the Terps began showcasing their improvements from their initial coming together. The offense had a response for every Northwestern score, ending with x fabricated threes on 42% shooting from the field. The defense maintained reasonable subject area, despite Scott and Julian Reese fouling out, and kept the Wildcats best scorers in check — outside of Nance, who dropped 28 points — and Northwestern within arms attain.

"But this is where we got to take the next step," Ayala said. "So I definitely think we took the next step today and are heading towards the right management."

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Source: http://wmucsports.net/maryland-mens-basketball-edges-northwestern-94-87-in-double-overtime-thriller/

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