Maryland basketball vs. Georgetown final score, with 3 things to know from the Terps’ 76-75 win

Maryland basketball came from behind to beat Georgetown, 76-75, on Tuesday night, overcoming a seven-point deficit in the game’s final minute to beat the Hoyas for the second year in a row.

Maryland trailed by seven points with 1:12 left, then narrowed the lead to 73-70 in the final minute. Anthony Cowan knocked down two free throws to make it a one-point game, then Maryland caught a break after Tre Campbell ran out of bounds. Trimble sunk two free throws to take the lead, and Kevin Huerter’s block of Jagan Mosely sealed the win. The Terps are 2-0, and host St. Mary’s on Thursday.

The Terps almost suffered their first loss of the season in a whistle-filled game that featured 57 fouls in total, 33 of which were called on Maryland.

The Hoyas knocked down 35 of their 40 free throws, which kept them in the lead down the stretch.

Maryland coach Mark Turgeon had enough of the foul discrepancy, earning his first technical of the season in the second half. That loomed large in a close game down the stretch, but the Terps overcame it.

Shooting 43 from three-point range certainly helped Georgetown too. Maryland played some solid defense all game, limiting the Hoyas to a shockingly low 31 percent from two-point range. But Georgetown limited Maryland to 26 percent shooting from deep, and that killed the Terps.

Georgetown’s Rodney Pryor, LJ Peak and Isaac Copeland were all tough to contain. Peak led the way with 21 points and Pryor and Copeland finished with 14 and 13 respectively.

The Terps’ freshmen carried the load early on. Justin Jackson impressed with touch from inside and outside, scoring seven of his 15 points in the first half and nine from three-point range. Anthony Cowan started at point guard for the second straight game and provided a boost with pesky defense and speedy transition play. He finished with 11 points, six assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Melo Trimble, who led the Terps in scoring and assists against American, took a backseat statistically at first, but poured points in when needed. He finished as Maryland’s leading scorer with 22 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Trimble briefly went out after suffering a hit to the face, but returned shortly after.

In the first half, the Terps looked much better than they did in their season-opening performance against American. With Damonte Dodd in early foul trouble, the team went with Ivan Bender at center for a stretch in the first half. Bender was solid defensively and knocked down three free throws, but did miss on a couple opportunities at the rim. He’s still sporting tape across his fractured wrist and probably isn’t 100 percent healthy yet.

Foul trouble was also a staple of the game from the beginning, with Maryland racking up 18 to Georgetown’s 11. The teams went into the half tied at 31, with the teams combining for 36 fouls.

Maryland gained four-point lead to start the second half, sacrificed that when Peak gave hit two free throws to give the Hoyas a 49-47 with 10 minutes left that looked like it would stand. Then the final minute happened, and the Terps came out with the win.

Three things to know

1. The Terps looked better than they did against American. This has to be encouraging for Mark Turgeon. His team had much better ball movement and distributed its scoring much more easily before getting untracked in the second half.
2. Maryland’s freshmen were ready. Jackson led the way, but Cowan and Huerter were real bright spots too. They had almost half of Maryland’s points in the first half, and didn’t let up in the second.
3. This is a cool game and it should keep happening. There aren’t any plans for the teams to continue this game yet, but there’s still time for that to change. The environment at Xfinity Center last year was incredible, and this year’s in D.C. was awesome too.