NCAA News Wire
Maryland 75, Indiana 69
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
CHICAGO — Forward Dez Wells scored a game-high 22 points and guard Melo Trimble added 17 as No. 8 Maryland used late free-throw shooting to secure a 75-69 Big Ten tournament victory over Indiana on Friday night at the United Center.
The second-seeded Terrapins (27-5) went 11 of 13 from the line in the final 4:45 and advanced to Saturday’s tournament semifinals in the program’s first Big Ten season.
Guards Jake Layman and Jaren Nickens each had 10 points for the Terrapins.
Guard Yogi Ferrell scored 18 points, forward Troy Williams finished with 17 and guard Robert Johnson added 10 for the Hoosiers (20-13).
Indiana, one of the nation’s top 3-point shooting teams, was just 7 of 24 (29.2 percent).
An entertaining first half featured six ties and four lead changes.
An early Indiana advantage swung Maryland’s way after forward Evan Smotrycz’s 3-pointer gave the Terrapins a 14-13 lead. The Terrapins maintained in front most of the way and led 42-40 at halftime.
Maryland extended the lead to 49-43 in the first five minutes of the second half while Indiana missed six of its first seven shots from the field.
The Hoosiers crept to within one point on two occasions. Williams’ 3-pointer cut the Terrapins’ lead to 55-54 with 10:12 remaining.
Maryland pushed its lead back to seven at 62-55 on Nickens’ 3-pointer with 7:30 left, but the margin shrank to two in the next four minutes.
Indiana could never catch Maryland, which nursed a small lead the rest of the way as the teams went to the free-throw line 12 times. The Terrapins made six trips and missed just two of 11 tries.
NOTES: Maryland’s 26th regular-season victory — 64-61 last Sunday at Nebraska — marked a program record for wins. … The Terrapins have been ranked among the AP Top 25 for 15 straight weeks, the longest run since 2002-03 when they were ranked all 19 weeks. … First-year conference member Maryland swept the Big Ten coach of the year awards as Mark Turgeon (men) and Brenda Frese (women) were honored. … Senior G/F Dez Wells entered Friday with double- figures scoring efforts in 11 straight games while averaging 17.7 points and double-doubles in his final two regular-season games. … The Hoosiers and Terrapins split the two-game season series. Indiana won 89-70 at home on Jan. 22 and dropped a 68-66 decision on Feb. 11 at Maryland. … Indiana finished third nationally with an average 9.4 3-pointers per game and led the Big Ten with a 78.0 scoring average.
