Maryland Rallies Late Past Denver, Advances to NIT Quarterfinals

After rolling over Niagara on Tuesday night, the Maryland Terrapins beat the 3rd-seeded Denver Pioneers 62-52 in Thursday night’s second round NIT tournament match-up at College Park. Unlike Niagara, Denver (22-10, 16-2 WAC) kept pace with the Terps (24-12, 8-10 ACC), leading at halftime and holding a lead as late as 4:18 left in the second half.

Maryland’s Dez Wells drives to the basket against Denver during the first half of a second-round game in the NIT college basketball tournament in College Park, Md., Thursday, March 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Gail Burton)

For Maryland, Sophomore Dez Wells shot an excellent 70 percent from the floor and scored 19 points, including 9 in the final 9 minutes of the game to help the Terps rally and beat Denver. Nick Faust and Seth Allen also played important roles in Maryland’s winning effort, especially down the stretch in the second half. The Terps trailed by 9 with just over 9 minutes remaining, but ended the game on an incredible 21-4 run and was able to pull out a victory.

For the Pioneers, Chris Udolfia had a game-high 24 points and led his team with 6 rebounds. Brett Olson also added 10 points and 4 rebounds. Denver gave Maryland a scare, making the game look like as if it may be stolen from the higher-seeded Terps. However, the Maryland’s height, depth, and athleticism proved to be too much for the Pioneers.

With the win, the Terrapins advance to the NIT Quarterfinals (March 26-27) and will play the winner of Saturday’s Alabama-Stanford game.