Eagles ground Terps late

In the final few minutes of Sunday night's game against Boston College, the Terrapin men's basketball team allowed a back-and-forth game to spiral out of its control.

The Terps had held part of the lead through all but two minutes of the second half when they took a three-point advantage with 2:44 remaining in their ACC opener at Comcast Center.

But with a run of offensive breakdowns and missed free throws by the Terps, the Eagles rattled off a 7-0 run that dealt their hosts a devastating 79-75 loss.

"Any time a game gets like that in the last few minutes, things happen," coach Gary Williams said. "We missed some shots, they made their shots. It's the first 38 minutes, a lot of times, that determines getting into that situation."

After guard Adrian Bowie scored a transition layup to put the Terps ahead 75-72, Boston College forward Joe Trapani hit a free throw to narrow the lead to two points.

The Terps had their chance to put the Eagles away when a foul sent guard Cliff Tucker to the line. But the senior missed two free throws, and Boston College quickly evened the score.

Another missed free throw — this time by freshman guard Terrell Stoglin — handed possession back to the Eagles (8-2, 1-0 ACC). Forward Corey Raji made the Terps pay on the next possession, knocking down a 3-pointer that put Boston College up for good.

"We missed a couple of free throws, took a couple of bad shots and were not patient on offense," forward Jordan Williams said. "We went away from what we wanted to do on offense when they took the three-point lead and we didn't execute well."

The Terps (7-4, 0-1) have now fallen in two of their past three matches, with losses to the Eagles on Sunday and Temple a week before sandwiching a win against woeful UNC-Greensboro.

Sunday's fast-paced contest featured 16 lead changes and 11 ties. Each team's biggest lead was just five points, both of which came in the first half. In the second half, the Terps held the largest and longest lead, but even that four-point advantage lasted just 15 seconds.

Struggles in transition defense hampered the Terps throughout the game.

"They ran a really nice press," Boston College guard Biko Paris said. "But they were slow getting back on defense, so we had a lot of wide-open shots."

The Terps' full-court press allowed them to take their first lead of the night more than 12 minutes into the first half, when guard Sean Mosley went in for a layup after a steal. But the team often had trouble running back to set up its half-court defense.

"We've got to get down on ‘D,' as simple as that," Jordan Williams said. "We would just watch our teammate get the bucket, and we would just kind of jog back. We've got to be more mentally tough, a lot more mentally tough than we were out there tonight."

Williams led both sides with a career-high 27 points. The sophomore forward added 13 rebounds for his ninth double-double this season, a mark that ranks first nationally.

But when Williams wasn't scoring, the Terps' offense often broke down before it could produce much. When that happened, the attack instead had to settle for less-than-ideal scoring opportunities. The Terps shot only 17.6 percent from 3-point range, including an 0-for-6 performance in the second half. Boston College, meantime, shot 44.8 percent from deep.

The Terps could hardly afford to start their ACC schedule with a loss at home to the upstart Eagles. They have now lost all four of their games against teams ranked in the top 50 in the RPI, with each decided by fewer than 10 points.

With a break for exams and a longer hiatus in conference play, the Terps know there's still considerable work to be done.

"We've got time now before we play another conference game," Gary Williams said. "Every game we play until then is very important for us to win, and how we go after practice each day. We have to go out there and we have to get better."

kyanchulis@umdbk.com