Jan. 15, 2014
Box Score |Notre Dame at Maryland Box Score
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) – Dez Wells scored all 17 of his points in the second half as Maryland beat Notre Dame 74-66 Wednesday night to climb back over .500 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
Seth Allen contributed 14 points in his first start of the season and Nick Faust added 13 to help the Terrapins (11-7, 3-2) end a two-game skid.
Maryland shot just 39.7 percent and went 7 for 26 from beyond the arc, but that was good enough to hand Notre Dame its third straight defeat.
Pat Connaughton scored 19 for the Irish (10-7, 1-3). Notre Dame went 10 for 26 from the floor and committed eight turnovers over the final 20 minutes while letting a nine-point halftime lead get away.
The Irish opened the second half by going scoreless for 6 1/2 minutes, but during that time Maryland could muster only four baskets to cut a nine-point deficit to 34-33.
After Garrick Sherman made a layup for the Irish, Maryland center Charles Mitchell scored in the lane and Jake Layman made one of two free throws after Notre Dame coach Mike Brey was called for a technical foul.
Allen followed with a 3-pointer to give the Terrapins their first lead since 12-11.
It was 43-41 before Evan Smotrycz hit a 3-pointer to spark a 15-7 spurt that pushed Maryland’s advantage to 10 with 5:08 remaining.
Notre Dame closed to 66-61 with 1:46 to go before Faust buried a 3-pointer to clinch it.
Connaughton scored 15 points and the Irish went 14 for 24 from the field in taking a 34-25 halftime lead.
Maryland made four of its initial five shots, then went 1 for 12 while Notre Dame got 10 straight points from Connaughton during a 17-2 run that made it 21-12.
Faust ended the drought with an alley-oop dunk, but Connaughton followed with a 3-pointer and Sherman scored in the lane to up the margin to 12 points.
Maryland went 11 for 34 from the floor in the first half, including 3 for 16 from beyond the arc. The Terps collected 13 offensive rebounds but only converted two of them into baskets.
Wells missed all six of his field goal tries and was 0 for 2 from the line before halftime.