Maryland finds way to alter foul-plagued narrative against Georgetown

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

There was perhaps only one way to change the narrative of Tuesday night’s Maryland-Georgetown contest from a foul-filled failure for the Terps — and Maryland found that way.

The topic around water coolers and coffee machines in the DMV Wednesday morning would have surely been the absurd number of fouls officials called on both sides — but primarily on the Terps.

But then Maryland erased a nine-point deficit with a little more than two minutes left in the game and came away with a stunning 76-75 win before a crowd of 13,000 at the Verizon Center — and that’s what people will be talking about.

It was a memorable game, just like the one last year, a 75-71 Maryland win at the Xfinity Center, in what was the revival of the Georgetown-Maryland series that had not been played since 1976.

The DMV has now been treated to two great, if flawed, games between local rivals, in November, and it’s hard to imagine college basketball in the area now without Georgetown and Maryland playing each other.

“The last two years have been great games,” said Maryland coach Mark Turgeon, who showed his frustration with the officiating with a technical about midway through the second half.

Tuesday night’s game was flawed, make no mistake about it. Both teams combined for 56 fouls and 64 free throw attempts. Five Maryland players had four fouls, but remarkably none of the Terps fouled out.

The only player to foul out on either side was Georgetown’s L.J. Peak, who led the Hoyas with 21 points, and went 10-for-12 at the free throw line.

Ironically, despite the benefit of having the edge in whistles blown — Maryland had 32 fouls called, compared to 24 for Georgetown — it was those whistles that helped the Hoyas self destruct in the final two minutes with fouls and turnovers.

Maryland didn’t have the lead in the final 12 minutes until Melo Trimble — who struggled offensively in the first half — sunk two free throws with 7.6 seconds remaining to give Maryland the victory. Kevin Huerter sealed it for the Terps with a block of a driving shot by Jagan Mosely just before the final buzzer.

“This is how crazy basketball is,” Turgeon said. “We kept playing and got lucky.”

It was an astounding meltdown by a Georgetown team that had been poised throughout much of the night and, in a tightly-played foul-marred game, seemed to get into their offensive rhythm in the second half of the second half and opened up a commanding 68-59 lead.

Then came the final 2:21 seconds, and it was Trimble and his teammates who had all the poise when the game was there to be won or lost. Trimble had just five points at the end of the first half, when both teams went into the locker room tied at 31-31. He had 17 points in the second half.

“Too many mental mistakes at the end,” Georgetown coach John Thompson said.

That was the biggest foul of all — self-inflicted.

Thom Loverro hosts his weekly podcast “Cigars & Curveballs” Wednesdays available on iTunes and Google Play.