Maryland erased an early nine-point deficit, then almost blew a sure win at the end of regulation before seizing control in the final minute of overtime to upset #5 UVa., 75-69, on Sunday in the ACC finale for Comcast Center in College Park, Md.
Maryland (17-14, 9-9 ACC) led 64-61 with 2.8 seconds left after a pair of free throws by Jake Layman. Terps coach Mark Turgeon elected to foul Malcolm Brogdon rather than allow Virginia (25-6, 16-2 ACC) shoot a potential game-tying three. Brogdon made the first free throw, and then after a UVa. timeout, Maryland fumbled the rebound of the intentional miss out of bounds.
With Maryland students amassed ready to rush the court to celebrate the win in their home ACC finale, with the program headed to the Big 10 next year, London Perrantes found Anthony Gill on an alley-oop in the lane for the game-tying basket with half a second left on the clock.
Maryland never trailed in the overtime, but Virginia did narrow what had been an early five-point lead in the extra session to two on a layup by Anthony Gill with 1:13 to go. The Cavs forced a miss by Seth Allen with 42 seconds to go, but couldn’t corral the defensive rebound, and Layman hit another pair of free throws with 38 seconds left to extend the lead to four.
Reserve Evan Nolte missed a contested three with 24 seconds left, and Layman, who rebounded the miss and was fouled, hit both free throws again to extend the lead to six.
Brogdon, Nolte and Joe Harris each missed threes in the final seconds.
Virginia bolted to an early 14-5 lead 6:09 in, but Maryland rallied and led by as many as five before a three by Perrantes with 21 seconds left in the half sent the two teams into the locker room with Virginia ahead 35-34.
Maryland opened the second half on a 10-2 run in the first 3:23 to open up an eight-point lead and seemed to be on the verge of seizing control of the game, but Virginia chipped away and made it a game into the final minutes.
Virginia’s undoing was poor shooting in the second half. The ‘Hoos were just 9-for-31 (29 percent) from the field and 15-for-23 (65 percent) from the foul line in the second half.
Maryland shot 47.9 percent from the floor for the game and was 24-f0r-30 (80 percent) from the free-throw line.
Gill led four Virginia scorers in double figures with 15 points. Perrantes had 14 points, 12 in the first half, and Brogdon and Harris had 12 each.
Allen had 20 points to lead Maryland.
The loss ends Virginia’s 13-game winning streak. Virginia had already clinched the ACC regular-season title and the #1 seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament. The Cavs will play the winner of the #8 vs. #9 game on Friday at noon.
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