Junior’s offensive board work paves the way in Maryland win over Wake, 70-64
The propensity for Maryland junior James Padgett to grab offensive rebounds has been a peculiar statistical sidebar through the first two months of the season. Wednesday night however, Padgett’s unique skill was instrumental in providing the Terrapins a big Atlantic Coast Conference victory.
With Wake Forest closing fast in Maryland’s ACC home opener, Padgett corralled two offensive boards in the final six minutes and turned them into points, helping the Terrapins repel the Demon Deacons, 70-64, before 13,357 at Comcast Center.
On a night when Maryland (11-4, 1-1 ACC) saw an 18-point lead whittled to three, its heroes included sophomore Terrell Stoglin (20 points) and senior Sean Mosley (15 points). But no one’s contributions were more timely than those of Padgett (11 points, eight rebounds).
“A lot of it is desire,” said the 6-foot-8 Padgett, who has 63 offensive rebounds to 33 off the defensive board this season. “People try to box you out and they don’t know if you’re coming or moving.”
While Padgett rose in the second half, freshman Ashton Pankey (nine points, nine rebounds) did similar work before intermission. The duo got their numbers in a combined 40 minutes, helping the Terps to a 45-37 edge on the boards. Maryland had a season-high 21 offensive rebounds.
“It was huge. Pankey in the first half and Padgett in the second half,” Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said. “Those guys are good players. They’re playing with confidence and they keep getting better.”
Stoglin’s work came from off the bench. For the second time this season, he was held out of the starting lineup, another attempt by Turgeon to send a message to the ACC scoring leader. He checked into the game before it was 2 minutes old.
“I’m trying to make Terrell a man. His parents on board with it,” Turgeon said. “There are responsibilities outside of basketball you have to do. We’ll see if it helps him.”
Padgett emerged after Wake freshman Chase Fischer hit a 3-pointer to make it 58-54. Padgett grabbed a Stoglin miss and missed a layup try of his own before corralling the rebound and scoring. Moments later, Padgett hit four free throws on consecutive possessions, giving Maryland a 63-56 lead with 2:46 left and the cushion it needed.
“Coach said we needed to play better on the inside, so we’re all competing and trying to be better and better,” Padgett said. “We’ve been struggling lately, so we’ve got to come out and prove ourselves.”
The game followed a similar pattern for Maryland, which has threatened to blowout several opponents, but seen many of them come back.
“We’ve seen that recipe before,” Turgeon said. “We would like to win by 16 or 18 , but that’s not who we are right now. We’re a team that beat a good team by six points with good players on our home floor.”
Coming off an upset of Virginia Tech, Wake Forest (10-6, 1-1) needed a half to get warmed up. Sophomore Travis McKie (25 points, seven rebounds) led the comeback along with Ty Walker (eight points, nine rebounds, eight blocks), one of two 7-footers in the Wake rotation.
“Coach said we had to attack them and go at their nose and try and get a layup,” Padgett said.
Walker and Carson Desrosiers (two points, two blocks), who fouled out, helped make it a long night for Maryland freshman Alex Len (five points, two rebounds, three blocks) and contributed to the Terps’ second-worst shooting night of the season (35 percent).
Maryland took control with a 16-3 run late in the first half. Part of it came in a stretch when the Terps scored on nine straight possessions, getting six points from Pankey and five each from Stoglin and freshman Nick Faust (six points, six rebounds).
But Wake rallied. Midway through the half, Walker scored six straight points. His thunderous dunk cut the deficit to 50-47 with 8:54 left
But that set the scene for Padgett’s determined work inside and another night where Maryland did enough at the end.
“We’re starting to become a better basketball team and you figure out ways to win games,” Turgeon said. “Tonight we did it with second-chance points and getting to the foul line and that’s a good formula to win.”
