Rally by Maryland’s younger players falls just short
Just 2 minutes, 33 seconds into the second half, with his team down by 15 points to Temple, Maryland coach Gary Williams was so disgusted with the play of veteran guards Adrian Bowie, Cliff Tucker, and Sean Mosley that he yanked them for three freshmen.
In a lackluster performance before a listless, announced crowd of 10,227 in the BB&T Classic, it was the right move at the right time.
And it was enough to dig Maryland out of its big hole, but the Terps couldn’t sustain their edge in the closing minutes of a 64-61 loss in the BB&T Classic Sunday night at Verizon Center.
“I’m very disappointed with the way we attacked Temple’s defense early on,” said Maryland coach Gary Williams. “You can’t expect to come back from 15 in the second half against a Temple team that’s won the A-10 the last three years.”
| UP NEXT |
| UNC Greensboro at Maryland |
| When » Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. |
| Where » Comcast Center, College Park |
| TV/Radio » Comcast SportsNet/980 AM |
| UNC Greensboro (0-6) is winless heading into Monday’s Southern Conference game against Furman. |
The clincher came with Maryland down, 59-56. Terps senior Dino Gregory made a steal on the Temple baseline, but gave the ball right back, throwing a dangerous pass across the lane that Owls’ reserve Khalif Wyatt picked off and finger-rolled into the hoop for a 61-56 lead with 27 seconds left.
Propelled by Ramone Moore (16 points), Juan Fernandez (14 points), and Lavoy Allen (13 points, 10 rebounds), Temple became the second straight team from Philadelphia to topple Maryland in the BB&T.
After surviving a terrible start that included six missed shots and three turnovers in the first 4 minutes, Temple (5-2) seized control, racing to a 21-10 lead and extending it in the dreadful early stages of the second half.
“I was upset. I was mad,” said Williams. “I would have put six [players] in if I could.”
The pace changed when Williams inserted freshmen Terrell Stoglin (16 points), Pe’Shon Howard (6 points, 6 assists), and Haukur Palsson (5 points) along with sophomore James Padgett (8 points). Maryland applied full-court pressure and scored on six straight possessions.
“Young guys came in, did a great job flying around,” said Williams. “I told the team afterward, ‘It doesn’t have to be perfect. You have to play hard.’ Those guys played hard.”
Padgett, ignited the rally with a layup. Then Stoglin and Palsson hit 3-pointers. When Stoglin scored a dynamic transition layup, he cut the deficit to 42-38 with 11:43 left.
But Temple coach Fran Dunphy responded to the run by switching to a zone defense and slowing the Terps’ momentum.
Maryland (6-3) eventually tied it as Padgett scored on a dunk, off a feed from Bowie with 1:52 left. But Temple’s 6-foot-9 Allen followed with a 3-point-play to give the Owls the lead for good with 1:41 left.
The question now for Maryland is what to do with the rotation. Is Williams ready to turn the team over to the freshmen?
Other than sophomore forward Jordan Williams (17 points, 11 rebounds), the rest of the starters were terrible. In a combined 90 minutes on the floor, Gregory, Mosley, Bowie, and Tucker had 9 points.
In their combined 74 minutes, Stoglin, Howard, Palsson, and Padgett had 35 points.
“We’ll work on some things, see if we can snap some people out of the way they played tonight, and go from there,” said Gary Williams.
