Penn State men’s basketball (11-5, 1-2) made the trip down to College Park to take on the Maryland Terrapins (13-4, 2-1) on Tuesday night. This game was certainly not a repeat of Penn State football’s 66-3 win at Maryland, as the Terrapins came out victorious behind Anthony Cowan Jr.

How It Happened

Lamar Stevens opened up the scoring with a mid-range jumper to give Penn State a 2-0 lead. The threes weren’t falling early for the Nittany Lions, as Penn State went 0-6 from distance to start. Chambers’ squad came out aggressive, though, drawing a handful fouls in the opening minutes of the contest and forcing Kevin Huerter into some early foul trouble. The opening 10 minutes were low-scoring, as Maryland led just 15-13 at the halfway mark through the first half.

Maryland managed a 9-0 run to take a 19-13 lead with 8:14 to play in the opening half. Anthony Cowan Jr. was the star of the first half, nabbing 10 points of 4-7 shooting and dominating the game offensively from the point. The Maryland guard even dished out 2 assists. Maryland began to force some foul trouble upon the Nittany Lions, as Stevens, Moore, Garner, and Watkins all committed two fouls.

Tony Carr buried the first three of the night with 2:10 to play in the opening half, before hitting another with about 30 seconds remaining. Reaves nailed a three at the buzzer, giving the Nittany Lions a 34-30 lead at the half after going on an 11-3 run in the final 2 minutes of the half. Carr led all scorers with 11 points on 4-12 shooting, followed closely by Cowan’s 10.

Penn State got the offense going early in the second half as Mike Watkins knocked down a high-difficulty turnaround jumper before Tony Carr knocked down a corner three. Chambers had his team clicking on all cylinders as a couple of key players really stepped up. 8:44 into the second half, the Nittany Lions put up 16 points and Watkins had accounted for 13 rebounds in the game.

Nazeer Bostick drained a three to give Penn State a 53-50 lead with about 10 minutes remaining in the game. With 8:52 to play, Garner looked to take a charge on Cowan Jr. but was tagged with his fourth foul of the game. Tony Carr extended the Penn State lead to 58-54 after an unbelievably difficult layup in the lane.

Jamari Wheeler put on a display of terrific defense and hustle with 5:15 to play in the game, chasing down Cowan on the break and forcing a turnover with a disciplined defensive effort. Maryland retook the lead, 63-61, after a dunk from Cekovsky with 4:05 remaining, while on a 9-point run.

With just over 2 minutes remaining, Lamar Stevens hit a three to bring it to 65-64 in favor of Maryland. Maryland’s Huerter went down the court and coverted a three-point play the old-fashioned way, putting the Terps up 68-64. Down 71-66, Josh Reaves hit a three with 22.4 seconds in the game to bring it to 71-69. Ultimately, however, Penn State couldn’t pull off a comeback, falling 75-69.

Cowan led all scorers with 18, followed by Fernando and Watkins who both had 17. Watkins also put up a whopping 17 rebounds.

Player of the Game

Anthony Cowan Jr. | Sophomore | Guard

The young Maryland guard put on a great offensive display against the Nittany Lions. 18 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and a 7-9 FT performance challenged the Penn State defense all night and forced foul trouble.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will take on Northwestern on Friday at 8 p.m. in Happy Valley. Fans can catch that game of FS1.