from Roman Stubbs of the Washington Post
Maryland guard Melo Trimble turned to his bench and flexed his muscles, no longer willing to contain his emotion after finishing a layup in overtime of Friday’s Barclays Center Classic semifinal against Richmond. He had drawn a foul, too, so after slapping his heart for good measure, he stepped to the line and finished the three-point play.
But even as that play gave his team a seven-point lead, Trimble knew that he would be needed again late as the midnight hour approached. The Spiders proved to be a hardened-foe Friday night, trading blow after blow throughout the second half, and they again cut the lead to three with just over two minutes left in the extra period. Trimble responded with venom of his own, knocking down the crucial three-pointer to help seal a wild 88-82 win.
In improving to 6-0, Maryland not only rallied to win for the fourth time this season but also did it in the most dramatic fashion yet. After shooting just 28 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, including a paltry 1 for 13 from three-point range, the Terrapins overcame a 12-point second-half deficit to advance to Saturday night’s championship game against Kansas State, which beat Boston College, 63-48, in the earlier semifinal.
Trimble tied a career high with 31 points, which included 21 in the second half and six crucial points early in the overtime period.
“I wasn’t thinking too much. I wasn’t trying to do too much. I just went out there and played basketball,” Trimble said. “You could tell I was feeling pretty confident.”
Trimble received plenty of help from his freshman counterparts, including Anthony Cowan Jr. (18 points), Kevin Huerter (12 points) and Justin Jackson, who finished with 16 points and tied the game at 70 with a free throw with 13 seconds remaining.
Jackson hit a three-pointer to help Maryland start the overtime period on a 5-0 burst, and by the time Trimble made two of the defining plays of the night, Maryland had capped a notable offensive resurgence. After the dismal first half, Maryland finished the game shooting 40 percent from the field and hit 10 of its final 18 from three-point range.
“We were settling for jump shots and not making them, and it was affecting our defense,” Coach Mark Turgeon said. “Just a really, really great win for this young team.
With Maryland facing its third Princeton-based offense this season (American, Georgetown), Richmond’s perpetual movement on offense presented a challenge early, aided by the fact that Maryland was without its best interior defender, Damonte Dodd, (concussion) for a second consecutive game. Turgeon again opted to start sophomore power forward Ivan Bender, who is still healing from a fractured left wrist but gave Maryland a lift by scoring its first four points of the game.
But it was only an offensive slog in the first half for Maryland, which entered the game shooting 31 percent from three-point range and still looking to solidify an early-season offensive identity. The Terrapins relied heavily on their outside shooting in the first 20 minutes but missed their first 11 shots from deep. As he watched yet another 18-footer clank off the side of the rim midway through the first half, Turgeon turned volcanic. “What are you doing?” he screamed as his team ran back on defense, and for the first time all season, they had no response. Maryland had started the season 5-0 despite a string of spotty shooting performances, rallying to win in three games, but the young Terrapins looked as if they might finally be undone by their offensive struggles.
And every time the Terrapins did find a burst, Richmond provided a swift answer. That included after Trimble finished a three-point play with just under five minutes remaining in the first half to cut the deficit to 11. Richmond responded with a three-pointer. After Trimble hit a three-pointer to make it 34-24 with 2:09 left before half, giving Maryland its first three in 12 attempts, Richmond promptly responded with one of its own to help take a 38-26 halftime lead.
Trimble’s biggest shot of the night came with 1:24 remaining, a baseline three-pointer that gave his team a 67-65 lead. After Richmond tied it on layup by T.J. Cline, Jackson again pushed the lead to two after a goaltending call with 43 seconds to go.
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