Penn State Basketball: Another close road loss dooms Nittany Lions at Maryland
By Evan Smith
Penn State Basketball wasted a first-half lead, falling on the road at Maryland, effectively dashing the Nittany Lions’ postseason chances
Stop if you’ve heard this before, but despite a first half lead, Penn State Basketball (12-14, 6-10) falls on the road, this time to Maryland 67-61.
Another workmanlike effort from John Harrar (14 points, 13 rebounds) was marred by two late free throw misses and a cold day shooting from Jalen Pickett (6-18 from the field) and another oddly quiet game from Seth Lundy (just four shots) wasn’t enough to combate the Maryland trio of Fatts Russell, Donta Scott and Eric Ayala, who combined for 42 points.
The first half was played at Penn State Basketball’s pace, with the Nittany Lions securing just 27 possessions in the half.
Penn State Basketball fell down six early and was a missed Maryland free throw from the roof coming off the Xfinity Center but, as we’ve seen all year, teams struggle to land the ‘knockout punch.’
The Lions fought hard with smart offense (only four first half turnovers) and actually took a four point lead with 2:40 to go. Maryland was struggling shooting and star Eric Ayala, who came off the bench due a wrist injury, did not look himself but Greg Lee did not play in the first half for Penn State at all, signifying he would miss his fourth straight game.
A typical Penn State Basketball drought allowed Maryland to tie it up at the half, capped off by a ‘pick 6’ where Sessoms got stripped and Maryland got a fast break lay-up.
Pickett was 2-10 in the first half but was getting some decent looks. Maryland offensive star Fats Russell missed a significant amount of time with two fouls.
Maryland opened a four point lead after an and-1 from Russell and a three from Ayala but a Sam Sessoms jumper kept the Terrapins from opening up a larger lead. Sam followed it up with a three but Lundy’s third foul on a former Penn State recruting target Donta Scott followed by back to back three pointers from Ayala and Russell forced Micah Shrewsberry to call timeout, trailing by seven, with 12:56 to go.
In past games, he was reluctant to use a timeout to stop momentum but in a game played within just an 11 point margin at this point, he assessed this was a vital point to now allow the lead to grow any further.
Maryland came out of the timeout in the sofest of presses but forced a wild Pickett turnover, already Penn State’s fourth of the half.
Shrewd move by Maryland Head Coach Danny Manning as Penn State seemed completely surprised by the press.
Fortunately, Maryland missed open jumpers on consecutive possessions, missing another chance at that fabled ‘knockout punch.’
A huge Sessoms and-1 cut Maryland’s lead to 6 with just under 11 minutes to go but more sloppy passes and back to back fouls on Cornwall gave Maryland 5 points (one was an and-1) and a 13 point lead, their largest of the game.
A backcourt foul on Russell (his third) bailed the Nittany Lions out of likely another turnover, struggling to adjust to a Maryland press. A great drive and drawn charge from John Harrar, playing his heart out (nothing new there) gave Penn State Basketball the ball back down 57-47 with 6:54 to go.
Despite similar shooting percentages (45.2% to Maryland’s 48.9%, 40% from three to their 35.3%), turnovers, not getting to the free throw line and simply not attempting enough shots were the main culprits for the deficit.
A missed from end of the one-and-one for Maryland gave Penn State Basketball some life but a typical Penn State possession ended after Pickett dribbling forever and missing and end of shot clock contested fadeaway, keeping the Maryland lead at 8 but a Harrar putback and-1 after a Sessoms miss cut the lead to 6 (missed the free throw) with 3:20 to go, the closest Penn State had been since the 12:58 mark of the second half.
Was this the push the Nittany Lions need to steal this game late a la at Northwestern 46 days ago (also the date of Penn State’s only road win this year)?
Maryland missed an open look from deep (likely because it wasn’t from Ayala or Russell, who combined for twenty 2nd half points thus far) but a Sessoms end of shot clock jumper clanged out of bounds. Back to back to back thirty second possessions when facing a second half deficit isn’t really a recipe for making a comeback but Penn State refused to increase the tempo, still trailing just 6 with 1:46 to go after Shrewsberry called his third timeout.
A bunch of dribbling that went nowhere from Sessoms was bailed out as Maryland was called for an off the ball foul, sending Harrar to the line for a one-and-one but big John missed the front end. Maryland easily broke the Penn State press and after burining twenty seconds of clock, was sent to the line for their second one-and-one, which they also missed.
With one minute to go, Sessoms drove but made a nice kick to a wide open Pickett, but he missed the rare early in the shot clock good look, forcing Penn State to foul, making one of two. Sessoms drained a deep three to cut the lead back to four with 39 seconds to go. Russell made two free throws, Pickett got the role but Russell made two more free throws to maintain a 6 point lead with 27.6 seconds left.
Sessoms was stripped by Russell, who was fouled hard by Dread going for the layup, basically ending the Nittany Lions hopes of a second road win on the 2021-2022 season.
Penn State returns home for another ‘weekend game’ (thanks Big Ten scheduling) this Friday at 7:00 pm vs Northwestern, the team directly above them in the conference standings.