Guard scores 28 points in victory over Hokies His decision-making has often been questioned, and he’s been called selfish by his coach. But in the case of Maryland sophomore Terrell Stoglin, his flaws go hand in hand with his greatest asset — his unshakable confidence.
Saturday afternoon with Virginia Tech bearing down on Maryland, Stoglin rose off the dribble and with a defender in his face, drilled a 3-pointer, the key shot in the Terrapins’ 73-69 victory before 16,976 at Comcast Center.
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In breaking a three-game losing streak, Maryland (13-7, 3-3) led all the way. But Virginia Tech (12-9, 1-5) made it interesting when Erick Green (18 points, four assists) scored to make it 60-55. After leading by 15 earlier in the half, it was a call to arms. Stoglin answered with 2 minutes, 45 second left.
“We rely on Terrell. It’s good to have a closer. He’ll hit the big shots,” freshman forward Ashton Pankey (eight points, 11 rebounds) said. “He can get his own shot so that helps everyone else.”
The 6-foot-1 guard was clutch on Saturday. All four of his 3-pointers came in the final 13 minutes as he scored 21 of his game-high 28 points after intermission. Stoglin also got three of his points from the free throw line in the final 17 seconds to help seal it.
“I thought he was a little selfish in the first half. We took him out twice because of his shot selection,” Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said. “But he’s got a will to win.”
Before Stoglin’s heroics, Maryland paved the way with defense. Virginia Tech’s 39.3 percent field goal mark was inflated by making five straight shots in the final 35 seconds, when the Terps — mindful not to foul — allowed the Hokies easy access to the hoop.
“I thought we were great defensively,” Turgeon said. “Quite frankly I think up until the 38-minute mark we were as good as we’ve been this year. It felt very comfortable when we had double-digit leads.”
In the first half, when Virginia Tech made just six field goals on 25 attempts, Maryland took the lead on its first possession and senior Sean Mosley (15 points) helped hike it to 11-5 with a pair of 3-pointers. Later, Maryland scored eight straight points as freshman Nick Faust (six points, six rebounds, three assists) started it with a pair of free throws and finished it with a bounce pass feed through the Virginia Tech zone to Pankey for a slam-dunk and a 24-11 advantage.
With six minutes left in the game, two free throws by Pankey gave Maryland a 60-48 lead, before Virginia Tech rallied behind senior forward Victor Davila (14 points, eight rebounds) and senior guard Dorenzo Hudson (14 points).
But Stoglin hit his big shot and Mosley was clutch at the free throw line, hitting five of five in the final 69 seconds, including three when Virginia Tech freshman Robert Brown committed a horrible foul on Mosley with one second left on the shooting clock.
With the defense they played, the Terps got everything they deserved on Saturday.
