National Basketball Association
Maryland 97, Nebraska 86
When: 8:55 PM ET, Friday, March 11, 2016
Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
Officials:
# Robert Riley, # Gene Steratore, # Larry Scirotto
Attendance:
N/A
By The Sports Xchange
INDIANAPOLIS -- With three losses in its final five regular-season games, No. 18 Maryland entered the Big Ten tournament with something to prove.
It took only 40 minutes and 97 points on Friday night in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals for the No. 3 seed Terrapins to make believers of some doubters.
Forward Jake Layman scored 26 points and Diamond Stone added 23 as Maryland claimed a 97-86 Big Ten tournament quarterfinal victory over Nebraska. The 183 combined points are a Big Ten tourney single-game record.
Guard Melo Trimble added 16 points, seven rebounds and eight assists for the Terrapins (25-7), who led by as many as 25 before 11th-seeded Nebraska (16-18) cut the lead to 92-86 on an Andrew White III 3-pointer with 1:37 to play.
Maryland then closed the game with five free throws to advance to Saturday's second semifinal against No. 2 Michigan State, the No. 2 seed.
"This whole week, we knew people were beginning to doubt us, so we wanted to come here and have fun," Trimble said.
Forward Robert Carter added 13 points for Maryland and guard Rasheed Sulaimon finished with 10 points and six assists.
"We just have so many weapons," said Layman, who was six of nine from 3-point range. "I was feeling good tonight, and I just stayed aggressive the whole game."
The Terrapins shot 60.3 percent from the field (35 of 58), including 13 of 22 from 3-point range. The 13 3s are one short of the Big Ten record.
"We did a lot of good things offensively," Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said. "We followed the game plan, which was to play inside out, and we made a lot of shots."
White led Nebraska with 25 points, forward Shavon Shields added 19 and guard Tai Webster finished with 17.
"We obviously didn't stop Stone nor Layman, and Maryland was just that good in the first half," Nebraska coach Tim Miles said. "I didn't see us making that many defensive errors. They made shots. The score got so high because of the pace of the game and the way they were shooting the ball."
The Terrapins raced to an early 18-9 lead, doubling the score with 13:47 left in the first half on a Trimble 3-pointer and never backed off, finishing the first 20 minutes with a 54-37 advantage.
Nebraska was within striking distance at 38-28 before Maryland got two free throws from Carter and back-to-back 3-pointers from Layman and Trimble for a 46-28 lead with 4:47 remaining in the half.
The Terrapins used a 6-0 burst to lead 54-33 before the Cornhuskers scored the final four points of the first half.
The Terrapins shot 71.4 percent from the field in the opening half (20 of 28), getting 17 points from Layman and 10 from Stone.
"They have an offensive threat at every position," White III said. "On top of that, they executed very well and made tough shots."
Trimble had eight points and six assists in the first half.
White III led the Cornhuskers with 10 points and Shields added nine.
Nebraska shot 46.7 percent from the field (14 of 30) in the first 20 minutes.
NOTES: Nebraska advanced to the quarterfinals with a 70-58 victory over No. 6 seed Wisconsin in the second round. ... The Cornhuskers played the Terrapins only once during the regular season, losing 70-65 on Feb. 3 in Lincoln. ... The 54 first-half points were Maryland's highest total during the opening 20 minutes this season. ... The Terrapins made 9 of 10 3-point attempts in the first half, including Layman's 5 of 6. ... Maryland came into the Big Ten Tournament only 2-3 in its final five games of the regular season.
Top Game Performances
| Nebraska |
|
Maryland |
|
Andrew White III 25 |
Scoring |
Jake Layman 26 |
|
Glynn Watson Jr. 3 |
Assists |
Melo Trimble 8 |
|
Michael Jacobson 6 |
Rebounds |
Diamond Stone 8 |
|
Glynn Watson Jr. 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Robert Carter 5 |
|
Benny Parker 3 |
Steals |
Jake Layman 2 |
|
Tai Webster 2 |
Blocks |
Jake Layman 1 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Nebraska
|
86 |
47.0 |
11-31 |
13-14 |
9 |
27 |
5 |
6 |
8 |
| Maryland
|
97 |
60.3 |
13-22 |
14-22 |
20 |
28 |
2 |
4 |
14 |
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