If this team ever gets its act straight for a full forty minutes the sky is the limit BUT for now we are at their mercy and along for the ride regardless of how bumpy it may get at times. The end result is what is really important and with a 16 and 2 overall record and 4 and 1 in the Big Ten Conference I would think plenty of our adversaries would gladly trade places with us. It was a game of runs and thankfully the last run was ours and it allowed us to finish on top 73 to 65. Rutgers jumped out 8 to 0 less than three minutes in with three the old fashioned way, bucket and a free throw, another bucket and it’s 5 to 0 and a trey made it 8 to 0. Meanwhile the Terps were scrambling with 2 misses by Layman, a missed dunk by Dodd, a turnover Wells and a miss Trimble.
Time for our run, bucket Trimble, trey Trimble, trey Wells and a slam Cheko, 10 to 0 run and Terps on top 10 to 8, 14:15 left. Watching both teams is nerve wracking With 11:12 left it’s tied at 12 all and Terps turnover total is at 6. Bucket Rutgers, free throw Pack, trey Rutgers, Trey Smotryz, trey Wells, ditto Rutgers and a freebie Dodd, 7:27 to go and it’s 20 all. Bucket Rutgers and a trey Layman, 23 to 22 Terps, 5:09 left. Slam Layman, freebie Rutgers, three Nickens instant offense, slam Rutgers and it’s 28 to 25 Terrapins, 2:58 to go. Another trey Nickens, trey Rutgers and a three Pack and with 1:20 left the Terps have their biggest lead at 34 to 28. Rutgers hits a three, it’s raining threes, Pack a bucket and 2 freebies Trimble and the half ends 38 to 31 Terps. An up and down half but Terps are on top by 7. Terps hit 8 for 17 from beyond the arc and Rutgers wasn’t far behind with 5 for 8.
The second half starts with another run, trouble is it’s Rutgers doing the running while the Terps can’t throw the ball in the ocean. Bucket Rutgers, three Rutgers and another bucket Rutgers and with less than 2 minutes gone we are tied at 38. Two more baskets Rutgers, 11 to 0 run Rutgers and we are down 4 at 42 to 38. Dodd slams one home to stop the bleeding, three Rutgers, three Trimble and a slam Rutgers, another bucket Rutgers, 13:36 left, an 18 to 5 run Rutgers and the score is 49 to 43 Rutgers. The Terps are 2 for 15 from the floor !!! Bucket and a free throw Layman and a bucket Smotryz and with 12:53 to go Rutgers leads 49 to 48, Wells and Trimble are a combined 1 for 11 from the floor and the Terps as a team are 4 for 20. Trimble forced a couple shots and gets a seat on the bench. With 9:58 to go we are still behind by 1 at 52 to 51. With less than 8:00 left we are behind by 6 at 57 to 51. Two freebies Wells, 2 freebies Layman, bucket Rutgers, another three Nickens and with 6:02 left it’s 59 to 58 Rutgers. Two freebies Wells, steal and bucket Wells and with 4:28 on the clock Terps lead 62 to 59 and it’s a 11 to 2 Terp run.With 3:31 to go we are tied again at 62 all. Rutgers is about to play to our strength by fouling everyone in sight.
Eight Terp free throws later with a trey mixed in by Nickens and three freebies by Rutgers and the Terps had a hard earned 73 to 65 win. Another run in this game of runs of 22 to 8 by the Terps. Not a picturesque win for sure but another W which now stands at 16 W’s and only 2 L’s. We won by continuing to rely on our strength at the free throw line where we shot 20 for 28, 71% and 11 for 28 from beyond the arc, 39%. Terps out rebounded Rutgers 46 to 33.
All ten players that got onto the court scored and contributed !!! Wells was high with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 7 for 8 from the free throw line. Wells started both halves off like a deer in the headlights but in between he was terrific. Layman had 12 points and a team leading 13 rebounds and was 5 for 7 from the stripe. Nickens who is solid in a starting role hit four threes for 12 points, all at crucial times in the game. Trimble who is finding the conference games a real challenge but still coming through at clutch time finished with 11 points and 3 for 4 from the charity stripe. Smotryz had a strong performance finishing with 7 points, 6 rebounds and 2 for 3 from the line. Pack another strong performance with 6 points at crunch time. Dodd had 3, Cheko and Graham 2 each and Wylie with 1. Michigan State coming in certainly with REVENGE on their mind the Terps will need a forty minute effort to get win number 17. GO TERPS !!!
Taters, Terpman 2
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