The Maryland basketball got off to a hot start, but still managed to go down to the wire against Iowa.
Despite trailing with under four minute to go, the Terrapins were able to ride Melo Trimble to a 84-76 win on Thursday evening.
Maryland had four starters finish in double figures. Anthony Cowan had 15 points and six rebounds while Justin Jackson added 12 points, nine boards, and six steals for the Terps.
Coach Mark Turgeon’s group shot the ball very well against the Hawkeyes. They made 56.6 percent of their shots while also connecting on 47.8 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc.
Maryland certainly got off to a great start in the early going.
The Terps made eight of their first 11 shots and jumped out to a 24-16 lead. Dodd and Trimble combined to score 12 of those points.
Maryland also hit five of their first eight shots from three. Trimble connected on two of his three attempts.
The Terps led by as many as 15 points in the opening half. Ivan Bender got his own miss and put it back in to give Maryland a 35-20 advantage with 4:56 left in the first half.
Iowa was able to get the deficit down to single digits before halftime. Hawkeyes guard star guard Peter Jok nailed a pair of free throws to get the Maryland lead down to seven points before Dodd converted a slam dunk with 35 seconds left in the period.
Maryland took a 41-32 lead into the break.
Trimble drilled a three with 15:07 to go that extend their lead to 54-41. The junior guard hit five of his nine attempts from long-range on the night.
Then the Terps went cold over the next five minutes as they didn’t score a single point. Maryland turned the ball over three times and missed three shots during that stretch.
The Hawkeyes got it all the way down to a 57-54 game after a Brady Ellingson three. Fortunately for the Terps, Cowan did answer with a trifecta of his own.
Maryland jumped out to a five-point lead, but Iowa still managed to claw their way back into the game. With 5:51 left, Jordan Bohannon connected on a shot from long-range to tie the game at 66.
Iowa even took the lead as Ahmad Wagner scored on a tip-in to give the Hawkeyes a 69-66 advantage with 4:38 left.
However, that’s when Trimble took over as he scored nine of his 20 points in the final 3:01. He hit a pair of threes to help Maryland reach the finish line.
Maryland ended up committing 21 turnovers, which was one of the reasons that Iowa was able to climb back into the game. However, they also recorded 14 steals to make life difficult for the Hawkeyes as well.
Cowan and Jackson combined for nine takeaways on the night.
Next: Will Likely ready to take the next step
Maryland returns to the court on Tuesday when they host Rutgers for a 7:00 p.m. tip.