Maryland blows 16-point second half lead in Senior Day loss to Indiana

COLLEGE PARK — A ‘Gold Rush’ and Senior Day crowd came prepared to see Jahmir Young, Donta Scott and others perform some magic one last time under the Xfinity Center lights.

They got that for most of the game, a little over a half’s worth. But in perhaps a microcosm of their moribund season, the Terrapins snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in the worst way.

Young scored 22 and Scott scored 15, but Maryland blew a 16-point second-half lead to lose to Indiana, 83-78, on Sunday afternoon.

“Give them credit, they really pushed the pace on us, and it was just kind of tough because they weren’t really doing anything in the half-court, but they were really attacking us in transition, and we’ve been good in transition all year,” Maryland coach Kevin Willard said. 

After scoring only six points in the first half, Indiana’s Mackenzie Mgbako led all scorers with a career-high 24 points, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range. Malik Reneau had 14 for the Hoosiers, and Bishop O’Connell grad Xavier Johnson scored 13 on 5-of-7 shooting as Indiana won its third straight over Maryland.

After stretching a 10-point halftime lead to 16 more than two minutes into the second half, the Terrapins played like a much tighter group the rest of the way — looking like a team trying to defend a lead, not add to it. For its part, Indiana, the third-worst scoring team in the Big Ten, shot a lights-out 73% in the second half to take the win.

“You know, we had a lot of guys that were being a lot aggressive … and that was kind of a little bit different in the second half, where we wasn’t as aggressive,” Scott said. “And I feel like that kind of hurt us.”

Maryland also got double-digit scoring from Julian Reese (13 points and 11 rebounds) and Jahari Long (12 points), and Young’s output was his 18th game of 20 or more this season. The DeMatha grad spent his first three years at Charlotte before transferring to Maryland before Willard’s first season. He became only the fifth Maryland player to score 1,000 points in just two seasons, leaving a legacy that will be long remembered in his backyard.

“I mean, just looking up and seeing some of your friends and family in the stands, it was great to see that,” said Young, who took time after the loss to sign autographs and take pictures for fans. “You know, just trying to take it all in. Last time I’m on this floor, so I’m just grateful and thankful and excited for what the future holds.”

“As a coach, I’m extremely appreciative of [Jahmir and Donta’s] effort, their hard work, their attitude. And they’re both terrific young men, Willard said. “So you don’t want to go out the way they’ve gone out, but like I said, they’ve laid down a foundation that was not here that’s that’s going to last a while.”

After a barn-burning 15-1 record in College Park last season, the Terrapins closed out this one with six home losses. The loss is the 13th game for Maryland (15-15, 7-12 Big Ten) that was decided by six points or less. The Terrapins fell to 3-10 in those contests. With only one regular season game left, it guarantees Maryland will be mired in the bottom four in the Big Ten and will play on the first day of next week’s conference tournament in Minneapolis.

“That’s probably been the most frustrating thing,” Willard said. “We’ve had three games in this building where, if we’d won those three games, it’d have been totally different. And we’ve just, for some reason, we’ve just struggled. We haven’t struggled nearly as much on the road. They seem much more relaxed on the road than they do at home. I can’t really put my finger on it.”

All four of Maryland’s seniors — including Long and Jordan Geronimo — started for their final home game.

The Hoosiers (16-13, 8-10) missed their first two shots of the second half before rattling off their next six to narrow Maryland’s lead to 53-46. Indiana senior Trey Galloway, who didn’t score his first basket and points until the 1:48 mark of the first half, made a jumper and a layup during the stretch.

Mgbako, the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week, led Indiana on a 17-3 run over a crucial six-minute stretch late in the second half, including 12 straight field goals without a miss. Maryland missed shots and turned the ball over five times during the run.

“Our turnovers doesn’t put us in position to get back fast enough,” Young said. “And, depending on where we turn the ball over, it’s hard to get back. And they made an emphasis to run the floor, and they would get three guys up and try to get easy ones.”

Scott and Young made back-to-back 3-pointers to close the gap to five with 1:56 to go, but that’s as close as Maryland would get.