From the opening tip tonight the University of Maryland was pushed against an athletic, and hungry Florida state team. Up 14 points at one point in the 1st half, Maryland would go to half-time with a 9 point lead. In the 2nd half, that Terps lead would evaporate during a 7 minute scoreless stretch.

Down 59-51 with a minute left, the Terps rallied, with a chance to win the game. Ultimately, Florida State would do just enough to hold-on and win 65-62; dropping Maryland to 13-2 overall, and 1-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Good:

1) Wells tied the game at 2, with an aggressive move. Pushing the ball in transition, Wells’ 2nd basket was a layup to give MD a 18-15 lead. Driving inside, Wells found Len for a basket, and a 2 point MD lead (48-46).

2) Allen got a shooters roll, to pull the Terps within 1 at 6-5. With time running out on the shot clock, Allen came around a curl and knocked down a 3. This put the Terps back up 10 at 32-22. At the 1:30 mark of the 1st half, Allen was fouled on a 3 point attempt. He hit 2 of his FT’s, giving MD a 12 point lead. Allen buried a 3 from the top of the key with 30 seconds left to pull MD back within a basket. He would follow with a driving layup, where he was fouled on the play. His FT made it a 61-58 FSU lead. Allen finished with 13 points.

3) Over the back spasms he had Saturday, Faust was back in the starting lineup. Using a screen, Faust buried a 3, giving the Terps a 8-6 lead. At the 13 minute mark of the 1st half, Allen found Faust for another 3. This put the Terps up 14-9. Faust hit an important 3 late in the 2nd half, giving the Terps a 51-50 lead. With 10 seconds left, he hit another long 3, pulling the Terps within 1. Faust was 4 of 6 from 3, and finished with 14 points, 4 boards, and 2 assists.

4) Coming off the bench, Layman hit his first 3 of the game, as MD went up 11-9.

5) Padgett gave MD a 4 point lead (16-12) with a slam. Padgett was the recipient of a nice pass from Len for his 2nd basket.

6) At around the 11:30 mark, Len got his first block of the game, and followed with a strong rebound. At the 10 minute mark, Len had a great interior pass to Padgett. After a Faust miss from outside, Len came up with a put-back. Aronhalt found Len for open jumper, giving the Terps a 29-19 lead. Len put MD up 43-35 with a huge slam from the baseline. Len took a pass from Wells, to put the Terps up 48-46. Len finished with 15 points, and 10 boards.

7) With MD up 25-17, Mitchell came up with a strong offensive board. You could see the extended Terps possession just deflated the Seminoles. Mitchell scored on a layup, coming on a good pass from Howard. Scoring off an in-bounds, Mitchell put the Terps up 11 at 41-30. Mitchell had 7 boards.

8) Defensively, Howard was hustling. He found Mitchell for a layup with about 5 minutes left in the 1st half.

9) Despite a poor start, and 11 first half turnovers; MD went to halftime with a 36-27 lead.

10) After missing his first 3 attempts from outside, Aronhalt knocked down a 3 to tie the game at 46.

The Bad:

1) Maryland’s first possession ended in a turnover. Howard expected Len to cut harder to rim. As FSU came back down the court, Len did not secure the board.  At around the 12 minute mark, Howard turned the ball over around mid-court. Aaron Thomas came up with the steal, and the easy layup to make it a 16-15 game. At the 15 minute mark of the 2nd half, Howard had the ball at the top of the key with 8 seconds on the shot clock. He ran himself right into a steal. At the 9 minute mark, Howard threw up an ugly brick from outside. With 3:30 left, Howard missed a 3, which led to an FSU fast-break.

2) Faust missed an early open 3, with the game tied at 2. Maryland recorded their 5th turnover in the first 3 minutes of the game, when Len could not secure a pass from Faust on the baseline. Faust picked up his 2nd foul with 4 minutes left in the 1st, away from the ball. At around the 16 minute mark of the 2nd half, Faust missed a layup, where he thought there was goal-tending from FSU. He did not hurry back down the court, and FSU hit a 3 to pull within 8 at 41-33.

3) Allen was charged with MD’s 6th turnover, when Cleare did not step-up for a pass inside. Minutes later, Layman gave Cleare a great look inside, that Cleare did not finish. In the middle of the 2nd half, Allen had back-to-back turnovers as he attempted to get the ball inside. Maryland’s 17th turnover came with Allen just losing the handle as another shot clock ticked down. Cleare had 0 points, and 2 boards in 8 minutes.

4) The Seminoles pulled within 2 at 14-12, when Ian Miller hit an open 3. He had too much cushion on his attempt. Coming out of a timeout, Miller hit another 3, to get FSU within 7 at 29-22.

5) Layman was charged with a timeout (MD’s 9th) when he stepped on the baseline. Layman missed a couple of 3’s in the 2nd half, where it looked like he did not have his legs under him.

6) Maryland’s 10th turnover of the 1st half came when Len shuffled his feet.

7) Aronhalt took 3 quick 3’s upon entering the game, and missed each of the attempts. With 2 minutes left in the game, Aronhalt had an open shot from 8 feet. He hesitated, and missed. Aronhalt was 1 for 6 from the floor, 1 for 5 from 3. He struggled at times to get his shot off against the FSU defense.

8) Wells picked up his 2nd foul, with a charge. A Wells turnover at the 13 minute mark of the 2nd half, led to an FSU basket. Down 55-51, Wells forced a shot out of a timeout. Wells was just 2 of 9 from the floor, and as mentioned below had 5 turnovers.

9) At the 2 minute mark of the 1st half, Allen would split a double team and get to the rim, but had his shot blocked.

10) FSU got their 8th block of the game, when Padgett went up soft. After Aronhalt’s miss with 1:30 left, Padgett aggressively went for the board, but was unable to get his shot off.

11) A 15-3 Seminoles run gave FSU the 46-43 lead, with 8 minutes left in the game.

12) Maryland made just 37% of their shots from the floor, and had only 13 assists.

The Ugly:

1) It was a rough looking start to the game for Maryland, with the Terps committing 5 turnovers in the initial 3 minutes. The Terrapins were struggling with the physicality and tempo of Florida State.

2) Maryland was held scoreless for 7 minutes in the 2nd half. Too many rushed shots, and empty possessions. That included 11 consecutive missed shots.

3) FSU had 13 blocked shots.

4) Maryland finished with 18 turnovers. Wells, and Allen each had 5 turnovers. Howard, and Len each had 3.

5) Down 64-62, Maryland had a chance to tie or win. Allen was unable to find an open Len.

Chris Stoner
Chris Stoner

Owner

Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.

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