By: Johnny Moseman
The road warriors keep on rolling. Maryland won their sixth game on the road this year, beating Ohio State 77-71 in Columbus Tuesday night.
Freshman Justin Jackson continued to amaze anyone watching, putting up his second straight double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Jackson, who went 5-5 from three last contest against Minnesota, started off just as hot tonight’s making his first three shots from behind the arc in the first half.
In the closing minutes of the game when Ohio State cut the Maryland lead to one, it wasn’t Jackson who stepped up for; it was none other than Melo Trimble leading the charge.
With just over two minutes left in the second half, Trimble knocked down his first three of the night, which gave the Terrapins a four-point lead. Next time down the floor Trimble drove down the middle of the lane and made a difficult running layup.
After a missed Ohio State shot and a Kevin Huerter block, Maryland got the ball back and the Buckeyes sent Trimble to the line. He would knock down both free throws and the victory was sealed for Maryland.
After struggling in the first half, Trimble finished tonight’s contest with 13 points, four assists and three rebounds. Freshman guard Anthony Cowan posted 11 points and five assists tonight.
Kevin Huerter was also huge for the Terps down the stretch, blocking an Ohio State put back after an offensive rebound that would have made it a one-possession game with 30 seconds left. Huerter finished tonight’s game with nine points, four assists, four blocks, and three rebounds.
The Terrapins after off to their best start in school history with a record of 20-2 and are 6-0 on the road, making them one of only three teams, including No.1 ranked Gonzaga and No. 5 ranked Arizona, to be undefeated on the road this season.
Ohio State forwards Marc Loving and Jae’Sean Tate combined for 38 points in tonight’s game.
A promising sight for Terps fan is the resurgence of Jared Nickens in Big Ten play so far this season. Nickens is 12-18 from behind the arc in conference play after struggling with his shot earlier this season. Nickens had 7 points on two shots, including an and-one after a made three from junior guard in the first half. Jaylen Brantley also added three points on one made three tonight.
Maryland’s big men were all finally healthy enough to all see significant minutes in the same game and that will only help them moving foward. Damonte Dodd saw the most minutes tonight out of the Terrapin big men (25) and had five points and five rebounds to show. Ivan Bender had only two points and three rebounds in 10 minutes while Michal Cekovsky, who has been dealing with an ankle injury, scored four points in only five minutes on the court.
Maryland is back in action Saturday at noon in College Park when the No. 23 ranked Purdue Boilermakers comes to down to try and end their seven-game winning streak.
