Jaloni Cambridgei (22) scored 29 points in the Buckeyes 76-75 loss to Maryland Sunday at the Schottenstein Center. Credit: Cassandra D’Angelo | Lantern Photographer.
After Ohio State took a 46-31 lead into halftime, its fifth straight victory seemed all but certain.
The Buckeyes outshot Maryland by 26%, outrebounded them by six and looked to be the better team.
Then the shots stopped falling. The rebounds stopped coming. And the seemingly insurmountable lead kept shrinking.
And when Jaloni Cambridge’s 3-pointer missed at the buzzer, the lead that once felt safe was gone for good.
No. 20 Maryland used a 17-4 third-quarter run to mount its biggest comeback of the season and stun No. 8 Ohio State 76-75 Sunday afternoon at the Schottenstein Center.
“When you give a good team like Maryland 11 more shots, they’re probably going to win,” head coach Kevin McGuff said.
Those extra opportunities told the story.
After hitting 9 of its first 14 3-pointers and building a 19-point cushion late in the second quarter, Ohio State went cold.
The Buckeyes shot just 29% in the second half and were outrebounded 47-36 for the game. Maryland grabbed 13 boards in the third quarter alone, turning misses into second-chance points and flipping the tempo.
Chance Gray, who poured in 19 first-half points and finished with a season-high 25, helped Ohio State stretch the lead to 46-27 late in the second quarter. Jaloni Cambridge added 29 points on 11-of-22 shooting, attacking downhill and knocking down contested jumpers to keep the Buckeyes afloat as the margin tightened.
But Maryland’s second half pressure never relented.
The Terrapins drilled nine second-half 3-pointers and controlled the paint on the glass, led by Oluchi Okananwa’s 17-point, 10-rebound double-double and Saylor Poffenbarger’s 11 rebounds.
A jumper from Addi Mack with 8:17 remaining gave Maryland its first lead since the opening minutes, completing the comeback and silencing a crowd that had been roaring just an hour earlier.
Ohio State still had chances. The Buckeyes went 5-of-16 from the field in the fourth quarter, and Cambridge’s final look, a contested 3 from the top of the key, bounced off the rim as time expired.
“They weren’t doing anything different,” Gray said. “We just weren’t locked in. They wanted it more at times than we did.”
The loss snaps Ohio State’s four-game winning streak and splits the regular-season series with Maryland at 1-1.
