There’s no doubt that this was the best crowd in College Park this season as the Terps honored Len Bias’ enshrinement into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
That seemed to get Maryland started early but Virginia Tech’s defense would prove to be too much as the Hokies left with a 62-58 win.
Qudus Wahab got the Terps started early 7 of Maryland’s first 10 points as Maryland jumped out to an early four point lead. Last week, head coach Mark Turgeon spoke about a need for Wahab to beat his man one-on-one. Early on, he was doing that both when he was passed the ball and on the offensive boards.
Justyn Mutts spearheaded Virginia Tech’s offense early on, hitting 2 of his first 3 shots with both made shots coming from the three point line.
Keve Aluma’s three-pointer gave the Hokies a 21-18 but Wahab quickly responded with an old fashion three point play. He followed that up with a block shot that would lead to a Donta Scott layup and a quick 5-0 run.
After a Aluma three point play Maryland threw the ball into the paint to Wahab again where he scored. Wahab would finish the half with 14 points and 4 rebounds.
But with every Maryland run Virginia Tech would respond as they started going inside more. A Mutts basket in the post gave the Hokies a 26-25 lead at the under four minute timeout.
Virginia Tech would score the last 5 points of the half to go into the locker room with a 31-29 lead.
Maryland kicked off the second half on an 8-2 run as they took a 37-33 lead heading into the under 16 timeout.
The Hokies offense would continue to struggle as they missed nine shots in a row. That prompted a 15-3 Terps run pushing the lead to 43-36.
But the Terps couldn’t pull away, in part, because of the Hokies defense. They would hold Maryland without a field goal for almost five minutes.
Scott would break the drought with a baby hook but Hunter Cattoor would respond with a three-pointer giving the Hokies their largest lead at 59-52.
Up 59-56 with 1:10 left, Aluma misses front end of a one-and-one. Donta Scott would come down and hit a short hook but with 20 seconds left, Mutts would drive the baseline with the shot clock running down and make a layup putting the Hokies up three.
Hakim Hart shot missed three and Mutts was fouled with 13.1 seconds left. He would one out of two. Scott would miss a three and the clock would run out.
