Maryland-Clemson recap: Terps force double-OT but fall short

Maryland desperately needed a win against their ACC foe Clemson, but would fall short of their task, losing 77-73 in a double-overtime contest.

The game started off dull with each team only scoring four combined points in the first five minutes of the game with neither team able to get much going scoring, but each team would finally get it going from there, with Maryland being aided by a couple of threes from Evan Smotrycz. Smotrycz had been cold from beyond the arc coming into the game, so Mark Turgeon tried bringing him off of the bench to provide a spark, and the results were good early on as he hit his first two.

Maryland would find themselves ahead 12-7 before giving up an open layup underneath the hoop which was extenuated by a foul, leading to a 3-point play to make the score 12-10. Damonte Dodd was also in early for the Terps to help provide a spark that the Terps needed, although he didn't do much early on. Each team attacked the rim early on rather than settling for outside shots, something that seemingly doomed the Terps in past games.

After a miss by Smotrycz followed up by a miss by Seth Allen, KJ McDaniels found an easy dunk in transition to tie the game at 14 midway through the first half. Each team got into the double-bonus early in the first half with a lot of fouls being called all around.

After starting the game without any points, Seth Allen began to assert himself into the offense late into the half, scoring on a lay-up and following that up with an aggressive drive to the rim to head to the line at the under-8 media timeout. Allen scored 22 points in the losing effort against Syracuse on Monday. Allen hit both free throws and followed that with another three, scoring seven straight points to extend the Terps lead to six.

Charles Mitchell was a man on the boards for the Terps in the first half as well, hauling in offensive rebounds and finding put-backs to help the Terps get a nine point lead, forcing the Tigers to take a timeout with under five minutes to play in the half. The timeout must have worked for Clemson, as they would score seven straight points to cut the Maryland lead to two.

The game seemed like a series of mini-runs, as Maryland expanded their lead back to six, but Clemson fought right back to take a 33-32 lead into the half, led by a three by McDaniels. McDaniels led the way for the Tigers with 12 points at the half while Smotrycz led the way for the Terps with eight. Allen and Wells each had seven points to aid Smotrycz on the leader board for points to help get the Terps going.

Jake Layman took the first two shots of the second half for the Terps and the cold shooting that has plagued him continued as he missed both.

While McDaniels couldn't get his outside shot going for Clemson, he found his way to the rim often against the Maryland defense, scoring four early points in the second half for the Tigers to expand their lead to five, 39-34. Nick Faust would have an answer, however, hitting a much needed three from the corner to cut the deficit to two at the first media timeout of the second half.

Seth Allen was doing it all for Maryland, scoring on the drive, hitting shots, and kicking the ball out to open shooters on the drive. Layman would also finally find the back of the net midway through the second half with the shot clock winding down after starting the game 0-9 from the field, helping the Terps take a four point lead.

Dez Wells continued his theme of second half scoring with seven points within the first thirteen minutes of the second half, equaling his total from the first half to put him at 14 points for the game. Wells hit a pair of mid-range jumpers in a row to help keep the Maryland lead at four. Coach Turgeon called a timeout following the made shot to shore up the defense which had given up a couple of shots in previous possessions with the shot clock winding down.

After scoring those two buckets in a row, Maryland would go two possessions with Wells not touching the ball. Clemson would go down against the Maryland 1-3-1 pressure and McDaniels would collect his own miss and score the bucket, making it a 52-50 game with five minutes remaining. Wells would block a pair of shots on a possession and force a turnover that led to a Maryland bucket to push the lead back to four.

Clemson would battle back with a three-point play and a free throw to tie the game at 54 with two minutes left in the game. Maryland would turn the ball over, marking another double-digit turnover game for the team. With 42.8 seconds left, the Terps got the ball back with a chance to take the lead when Mark Turgeon took a timeout to draw up a potential game-winning shot.

Wells would take the ball to the rim but the shot would be blocked. Maryland would get the ball back on a steal, but Wells missed his second attempt after taking a shot too quickly with a lot of time left for Clemson. The Terps defense would buckle down, forcing a tough shot from the Tigers, leading the game into overtime.

Overtime would start well for the Terps with Smotrycz cleaning up an Allen miss with a tip-in basket to put Maryland up by two. Rod Hall would answer back for the Tigers with a pair of free throws to tie the game back up at 56. Both teams were struggling to get their offense going late in the second half and overtime, and Maryland would aid Clemson with fouls, giving the Tigers free points at the line. After a couple free throws for Harrison, the Tiger went up 58-56 with about two minutes remaining in the game.

With 1:34 left in overtime, Smotrycz went to the line for two shots but only made one of the two to make it a one point game after getting fouled on an attempted put-back. Rod Hall took the ball to the rim with a minute remaining in the game, getting the lay-up to go to expand the Clemson lead to three. Dez Wells would have an answer at the other end with a drive to the rim and a lay-up, cutting the Tiger lead to one once again with 47 seconds left.

The Terps would leave Rod Hall open for a three with 19.2 seconds left and Hall would bury the shot. The refs would change the three to a two point basket after replays showed that Hall's foot was on the line, making it a 62-59 game. Evan Smotrycz came down on the other end and buried the three to tie the game at 62 with 7.6 seconds left in overtime. McDaniels would get a good look at the end of the overtime period, but the shot wouldn't fall, leading to a second overtime between the two teams.

Seth Allen would start the second overtime for the Terps with a drive to the lane and a goal-tending call on Clemson. However, Clemson would answer with a strong dunk by McDaniels on the other end. Allen would come back down and, somehow, get a three-pointer to go when it looked like there was no way it could go down.

Maryland would get their lead to three by a score of 69-66, but McDaniels would continue his aggressive play, getting to the line again to cut the lead to one with three minutes to play. Hall would hit a shot to put Clemson back up once again, forcing Turgeon to take another timeout.

After Seth Allen drove to the lane to take a one point lead, Harrison nailed a three to put Clemson up by two. Charles Mitchell would then turn the ball over leading to two Clemson free throws, where they made one of two. Jake Layman went to the line to make it a one point game but missed the front end of the one-and-one, keeping it a 74-71 game. Clemson made one free throw on the other end to make it a four point game before Nick Faust drew a foul on a three-point attempt. Faust made two of the three free throws to make it a two point game with 17.9 seconds left in the overtime period.

Rod Hall went to the line to put the Tigers up by four, and that would be it for the game.