Penn State drops fifth straight game in overtime loss to Maryland

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Penn State dropped its fifth straight game, falling to the Maryland Terrapins 81-74 Wednesday night.

Jahmir Young of Maryland led all scorers with 28 points on 7-19 shooting and eight rebounds. Penn State’s Kanye Clary had 25 points on 8-17 shooting.

With one quick stop on the opening possession, guard Ace Baldwin Jr. opened up the scoring with an And-One bucket, converting the following free-throw. The defense stood tall in the first four minutes, forcing two Maryland turnovers and holding the Terrapins to four points.

However, the offense did translate, but the shots fell only inside the arc. Penn State started 0-3 from downtown early, but 4-7 from below the three-point line.

Both teams would trade buckets, but Penn State would find a groove. The team converted five straight field goals to force a Maryland timeout by head coach Kevin Willard.

The Nittany Lions would not hit their first three-pointer of the game until 9 minutes into the first half, when Kanye Clary found Zach Hicks in the corner for the triple, which extended the shooting streak to seven straight field goals made. But Maryland would start clawing back.

The offense stalled out for Penn State, creating a 7-0 run for the Terrapins, led by forward Julian Reese and Young. But, a lob from the former VCU teammates in Baldwin Jr. and guard Nick Kern Jr stopped the run for Maryland.

Both teams found a rut late in the first half, going on scoreless streaks of two minutes or more. But fouls were the story heading into the under-four-minute timeout.

Three Nittany Lions and two Terrapins had two fouls before the end of the first half, bringing Mayland to the bonus. Two technical fouls were assessed to Baldwin Jr. and Jahari Long of Maryland after both teams were fighting for a loose ball.

At the end of the first half, Penn State only found itself up two points. The Nittany Lion defense held Maryland to a 28% clip from the floor, along with the Terrapins shooting 3-14 from beyond the arc.

Maryland would take the lead two minutes into the second half off a Jordan Geronimo long-range two-pointer. That sparked a run where the Terrapins would hit four of their last five shots to open the second half.

Once that lead was taken, Penn State fought back and traded buckets. Forward Leo O’Boyle’s defense led to points off a Kanye Clary triple to extend the lead to four points for the Nittany Lions in part of a 9-0 run.

But as quickly as Penn State got the momentum, Maryland got it right back. Willard’s squad managed to get on a 7-0 run to retake the lead.

With Qudus Wahab, he picked up six points, and fouled out with four minutes left in the game, leaving Demetrius Lilley, who had four fouls of his own at that time.

As the time trickled down to triple zeros, both teams kept fighting to get the lead, as it happened 17 times throughout the game. A Clary and-one helped tie the game at 69-69 with under a minute left.

Penn State had an opportunity to take the lead with seven seconds left, but Clary missed a 10-footer, which caused Maryland to grab the rebound and get sent to the charity stripe with five seconds left.

After making one free throw, Penn State had an opportunity to tie the ballgame after Baldwin Jr. got fouled on the inbound pass. The former VCU Ram hit both free throws and sent the game into overtime.

From there, it was Maryland that took control, scoring the first five points of the extra period. Penn State, on the other hand, missed their first five shots before Baldwin buried a pair of free throws to cut the lead to three.

From there, Maryland held on in overtime to secure the win. The Nittany Lions' next matchup is Saturday, Dec. 9 at home against the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Jonathan Draeger is a fourth-year broadcast journalism major. To contact him, email jonathan.r.draeger43@gmail.com or jrd6052@psu.edu.