Maryland Terrapins: Terps Lose B1G Home Opener to Purdue 80-75
The Maryland Terrapins (6-3) were back at the Xfinity Center and despite having a chance to come back late in the second half, the Terps lost by five to the Purdue Boilermakers.
The Maryland Terrapins were back at the Xfinity Center, and despite having a chance to come back late in the second half, they fell to the Purdue Boilermakers 80-75.
Isaac Haas is Purdue’s leader and in order to win against Purdue, Maryland needed to contain him. He is the kind of player that is going to get his points regardless due to his size and skill. There is a reason why he led the Big Ten for two years straight in points per 40 minutes with 25.9.
Isaac Haas made his presence felt early scoring the first six of Purdue’s 11 points in the first half but Dakota Mathias was off to a hot start as well having scored 12 points with under six to play in the first half.
Freshman Forward Bruno Fernando’s and one opportunity cut Purdue’s lead to 11, 38-27 with 3:04 left. Two three pointers by Anthony Cowan and Kevin Huerter cut Purdue’s lead to six points. Purdue led at halftime 43-37. The Boilermakers ended the half on a 13-5 run.
Dakota Mathias was the high point man for them with 18 points on 7-7 shooting from the field and added four assists. Haas had 12 points on 6-7 shooting and three blocks. Cowan and Huerter each had nine points.
The Maryland Terrapins had to use the three-ball to get back in the game and it was going down for them for the most part. They shot 6-15 from there and had 10 points in the paint to Purdue’s 14.
Darryl Morsell scored the first points of the second half for the Terps and a Fernando steal and coast to coast slam cut Purdue’s lead to 43-41 causing a crowd eruption.
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Under 10 minutes to go in the game, the Boilermakers never lost the lead. A four-point play by Cowan cut the lead for Purdue to four, 76-72 with 53 seconds left. Cowan Jr. led Maryland on a 7-2 run with 30 seconds. Jared Nickens had a chance to tie the game at 78 with an inbound three-pointer from the left corner but missed.
This was a tough loss for the Terps at home but they showed the ability to battle through adversity against a team with size and a team that had other players put up solid performances like Mathias (20 points, nine assists, five rebounds) and Carsen Edwards (18 points, six rebounds).
Isaac Haas finished with 21 points, five rebounds and four blocks while Cowan had 20 points, six rebounds and five assists followed by Huerter’s 19 points, five rebounds and two assists.
Next: Daryll Morsell is Making a Name for Himself Early
The Maryland Terrapins now have to go on the road to play the Illinois Illini Sunday night at 8 p.m. EST on the Big Ten Network.