#10 Terps Secure Win No. 26 at Nebraska Sunday
3/8/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- Melo Trimble scored 21 points and Dez Wells made a big shot with 8.8 seconds left, helping No. 10 Maryland hold off Nebraska 64-61 on Sunday night.
Wells had 18 points and 12 rebounds for his second consecutive double-double, and Jake Layman added 11 points as the Terrapins (26-5, 14-4 Big Ten) won their seventh straight game.
Shavon Shields had 26 points and Terran Petteway added 19 for the Cornhuskers (13-17, 5-13).
Shields' three-point play with 43 seconds left pulled the Huskers within one point at 62-61. The Terps called timeout with 11 seconds left and four on the shot clock. Wells took the inbound pass and hit his 18-footer from the wing.
Shields missed his last-second three-point try, giving Maryland its school-record 26th regular season victory of the year. The Terps amassed 25 wins in 28 games in the regular season during their run to the national championship in 2001-02.
"Obviously, I am really proud of my group. We were in serious foul trouble and survived the first half without Melo (Trimble) and a lot of guys stepped up and played well for us,” head coach Mark Turgeon said. “I thought our defense was terrific. I thought we followed our game plan. We found out yesterday that we had a chance to set a record with 26 wins – the most wins in a regular season - and we really dialed in.”
Nebraska outscored Maryland 23-21 at the free-throw line, but made only 12 of 22 in the second half. The Terps shot 84 percent from the charity stripe on the night, including a 9-for-10 performance from Trimble.
Maryland went on a 10-0 run to take the lead for good after Nebraska had gone up 48-43. Trimble tied it with a deep three-pointer and Layman hit another long shot to put the Terps up 53-48.
Shields' jumper and three-point play got the Huskers back to 55-53 and got the crowd on its feet. Layman blocked what would have been the tying shot by Shields, and then Trimble showed off a couple of slick moves in the lane. He snaked through for a layup, and the next possession he passed off to Wells, who made a layup to make it a six-point game with four minutes left.
Nebraska was up six points in the first half after Petteway's dunk off Tai Webster's steal finished a 12-3 run. Trimble was on the bench for most of the time the Huskers were building a lead. He picked up two quick fouls and was limited to nine minutes in the first half.
The Terps' 26 wins is a nine-game improvement from last season and matches the most in a season in Turgeon's 17 years as a head coach. His 2005-06 Wichita State team, which went to the Sweet 16, also won 26.
Trimble's 20-point showing was his team-leading ninth this season.
Maryland – which will enter its first Big Ten Tournament as the No. 2 overall seed – will have a double bye before facing the winner of No. 7 Indiana/No. 10 Northwestern on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at the United Center in Chicago. The game will be shown live on the Big Ten Network.
