NCAA TOURNAMENT: Maryland weathers late-game anxiety to fend off South Dakota State

SPOKANE — For some 36 minutes, fifth-seeded Maryland looked like it was going to avoid the fate of two other 5 seeds so far in this NCAA tournament.

The Terrapins did, eventually, but not without a little late-game angst.

Maryland led by 18 points three times in the second half, but 12th seed South Dakota State rallied in the last four minutes and had a chance to tie, before the Jackrabbits’ final play went awry and the Terrapins held on for a 79-74 victory at the Spokane Arena.

“I thought for 36 minutes we were really good,” Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said. “Had an 11-point lead, and they hit back-to-back 3s and everything changed. And that’s what happens in this tournament.”

Deondre Parks and George Marshall hit those 3s, the second coming with 3:05 remaining. Then Maryland point guard Melo Trimble fouled out, and the ensuing three free throws by Parks with 1:03 remaining cut it to 72-70, and suddenly many of those fans still remaining for the second game of the afternoon session were standing and deputized as Jackrabbit fans.

South Dakota State (26-8) actually had a chance to force overtime, after Maryland’s Jaylen Brantley hit 1 of 2 free throws with 12.1 seconds left.

Maryland (26-8) pressured Keaton Moffitt of South Dakota State just across mid court, and his pass to Parks — who running toward him and was only about 3 feet away — rocketed through his hands. Rasheed Sulaimon of Maryland grabbed the ball and took it downcourt for a dunk with .2 seconds left.

“If I had the final play over, I would have called a timeout,” South Dakota State coach Scott Nagy said. “We knew what play we were running; we knew what to do, but we just had personnel in there that we don’t normally have in there in those situations. And so, looking back on it, it would have been way better off for me to call a timeout and made sure we knew what to do.”

South Dakota State focused on keeping Trimble out of the lane, but that opened up corner 3s for Jake Layman and Jared Nickens. Layman hit 5 of 8 3s and led all scorers with 27 points. Nickens made 4 of 8 3s and added 14.

“Yeah, it is pick your poison,” Nagy said.

Trimble still finished with 19.

Parks had 14 of his 22 points in the second half for South Dakota State, now 0-3 in the NCAAs, all three appearances coming in the last five years. Mike Daum added 16 points, Marshall 15.

“I’m guessing a lot of people thought the game was over, but we kept fighting,” Parks said.

The afternoon session drew 11,109 at the Arena.