Young scores 30 as Maryland tops No. 24 Ohio State

COLLEGE PARK — Jahmir Young is proving he can score in the Big Ten.

And even at 6-foot-1, the Maryland guard is a rebounding threat, too.

Young had 30 points and 11 rebounds, and the Terrapins opened the second half with an 18-2 run on their way to an 80-73 victory over No. 24 Ohio State on Sunday. Young matched his career high in scoring, which he set last season while playing at Charlotte.

“We practiced for almost two-and-a-half hours. I mean, we got after it yesterday,” coach Kevin Willard said. “I had no doubt that we were going to score the basketball. It was just good to be home.”

The Terrapins (11-5, 2-3 Big Ten) rebounded after losing at Michigan and Rutgers by a combined 49 points. Ohio State (10-5, 2-2) missed its first seven field-goal attempts of the second half in the game’s decisive stretch.

“We had to regroup. We went into the locker room down five,” Young said. “We didn’t have a lot of deflections going into the second half, so coming out we just had to make sure to make an emphasis on that — trying to get deflections, trying to speed them up and turn them over.”

Ohio State turned the ball over four times in the first couple minutes of the second half.

“I think their changing defenses bothered us,” coach Chris Holtmann said. “We’ll get better with that.”

Brice Sensabaugh led the Buckeyes with 22 points and Justice Sueing added 21, but they were the only Ohio State players in double figures. Maryland had five, even with Young handing so much of the scoring.

Donta Scott and Hakim Hart had 12 points apiece, and Julian Reese and Donald Carey scored 10 each for the Terps. Young’s two highest-scoring games since joining Maryland are this game and a 24-point effort against Illinois last month.

“He’s a good player. I thought he was really hard to contain,” Holtmann said. “Kevin did a good job putting him in spots.”

Maryland led 60-46 after Reese scored inside, but he was given a technical foul following some post-basket chatter, and Ohio State responded with a 13-2 run.

It was tight after that, but the Terps had enough answers offensively down the stretch. Down six in the final minute, Sueing missed an open 3-pointer from the left corner, and that was pretty much it for the Buckeyes’ comeback chances.

Maryland finished with 14 offensive rebounds — Young had five — and outscored Ohio State 34-22 in the paint. Zed Key, the Buckeyes’ 6-foot-8 forward, missed the game after injuring his shoulder earlier in the week.

“We missed his physicality, we missed his ability to post him and play through him at times,” Holtmann said. “But take nothing away from Maryland. They beat us.”

BIG PICTURE

Ohio State: The Buckeyes came into the game averaging 80.1 points and a plus-7.9 margin on the boards. That formula didn’t come together in this one. Ohio State was outrebounded 40-26.

Maryland: The Terps had lost five of seven since starting 8-0 in Willard’s first season at the helm, but this was a strong performance against one of the league’s better teams.

“We haven’t pressed a lot because we haven’t scored a lot, so it’s kind of like, we almost forgot what to do,” Willard said. “All of a sudden we started scoring.”

IN THE CROWD

Gary Williams, who coached both of these teams and won a national title at Maryland in 2002, was in attendance for the game.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

A two-point loss to top-ranked Purdue earlier in the week may not have been enough to knock Ohio State out of the Top 25, but this defeat probably will.

UP NEXT

Ohio State: The Buckeyes host Minnesota on Thursday night.

Maryland: The Terps play at Iowa next Sunday.