By Oliver Schaack
A dominant start turned into a forgettable finish for Maryland in Columbus after suffering arguably their toughest loss in a season in a 73-70 finish, squandering a game they led for nearly 38 minutes and by as many as 17 points. But the comeback was all made possible by an improbable game-winning shot by the man of the hour in Columbus, Bruce Thornton.
Maryland came out of the gates flying with an 8-0 run to start, setting the tone early before Ohio State called their first timeout to reset. The shots were falling early for the Terps who started a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes finally cracked the score column at 16:31 after five misses from the field to start.
A slow start turned into a drought for the Buckeyes, going almost eight consecutive minutes without a field goal until Thornton hit a jumper with 3:10 left in the first half. The Thornton bucket flipped a switch for the Buckeyes, ending the first half on a 10-2 run to bring Maryland’s 17-point lead with 3:30 remaining to a single-digit deficit, 41-32, heading to the locker room.
The Terps shot an impressive but deceiving 59% from the floor in the first half. The deceiving aspect is due to their 1/7 clip from beyond the arc, and a scoring drought over the final two minutes of the first half which helped ignite the late scoring run for the Buckeyes.
Head Coach Kevin Willard has said on several occasions that closing out the end of halves has been an Achilles heel for the Terps all season long. It hurt them tonight, and for a dream season with a deep run in March to become a reality, it’s a problem that has to be addressed and fixed well before the postseason.
Julian Reese and Rodney Rice both scored double digits in the first half with 14 and 11 each, respectively. Reese went a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor and Rice nailed the lone three for Maryland in the first half.
To start the second half the scripts on offense flipped, Maryland came out ice cold while Ohio State was able to convert on the other end on multiple occasions. The Terps missed seven of their first eight shots to open the second half. There seemed to be no one who could be a source of offense, the team went on a scoring drought lasting over six minutes until a massive Rodney Rice corner three making the score 50-42 with 11:52 to go in the game. Maryland steadied the course into the next media timeout and held a nine-point lead with a little over seven minutes remaining.
Maryland stretched their lead to 11 at 61-50, only for Ohio State to respond with an 8-0 run of their own to make it a one-possession game. From there, the seesaw affair continued, with Maryland holding onto a narrow 63-60 lead with only 3:51 to go.
Ohio State nailed nine out of ten shots down the stretch, and with just over two minutes left, a Bruce Thornton three gave Ohio State their first lead over Maryland the entire season at 67-66.
The final two minutes felt like a movie script ending. Derik Queen was sent to the line after a shaky night from the stripe, and of course nailed both to give Maryland a one-point lead. The next possession for Ohio State, Thornton drove by DeShawn Harris-Smith and got an and-one layup on a goaltending call against Juju Reese.
On the other end, Rodney Rice converted an off-balance shot to tie it up at 70-70 with 36 seconds remaining. The stage was set, all the chips to the middle of the table, and one man came out on top: Bruce Thornton.
Thornton was given the keys to the kingdom on the final possession for OSU, threw up a Hail Mary three-point shot, and banked in the game-winning three. It was great defense by Maryland, but a luckier shot by Thornton. It was three of Thornton’s 21 second-half points, and finished with 31 points on the night.
Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good.
Despite the insane ending to the game and Thornton’s game-winner, Willard was pleased with the defense displayed on Thornton on that shot and throughout the game as well.
“I thought we did a really good job for the most part. Even when he made a couple of tough twos, we were okay with that. We were still up six, up eight. We were getting into the lane. It's just we lost him, we lost him, and he hit a big three. Then obviously, I thought our defense at the end was really good. We switched out. We covered everything. We just, I mean, he hits a tough shot.”
A starting lineup known as one of the best in the country had an off-night by Maryland’s standards. Reese got his with another double-double of 24 points and 13 rebounds. Rice and Queen also had double-digit scoring outputs, but Gillespie and Miguel shot a combined 6-20 from the floor.
Maryland’s troubles from three continued into the second half and finished 3-13 from long distance. The Terps also got to the line 30 times, knocking down 21 of them and missing nine. Six of those misses came from Queen alone.
To the surprise to many of the Terp faithful, freshman guard Malachi Palmer got early game action in the first half. Jordan Geronimo also got early tick in the first half, who has seen his playing time fluctuate immensely game by game. Part of the potential logic for Willard going deeper into his bench could be the absence of center Aaron Bradshaw who was ruled out before tip-off. Bradshaw also missed the previous matchup between these two teams earlier this season while under investigation for a domestic incident.
It was a night to forget for the Terps who blew an early 17-point lead they held in the first half. The troubles on the road continue to haunt Kevin Willard who still has yet to answer the bell consistently away from the Xfinity Center.
Maryland will look to get back on track on Super Bowl Sunday against Rutgers back in College Park. John Fanta reported over 30 NBA scouts will be in attendance to see projected lottery picks Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper of Rutgers along with Queen who is still projected to be a one-and-done.
“We're on these Thursday-Sundays, so we have these quick turnarounds,” Willard said. “Rutgers had a great win against Illinois the other night. Dylan Harper is back. Ace Bailey's playing great. So, yeah, we got to watch the film get better on this one and get ready for Rutgers.”
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