FRESHMAN CONNECTION

With the Terrapin men's basketball team down by one point to College of Charleston with less than 15 seconds on the clock, Pe'Shon Howard dribbled around the perimeter, looking to run the play coach Gary Williams had called for the occasion.

First, the freshman guard looked to center Jordan Williams — the play's intended target — under the basket, but the Cougars wouldn't leave the Terps' leading scorer alone.

Then he turned to forward Dino Gregory under the basket — again, no luck.

As the seconds continued to tick off the clock, Howard decided to take charge of what was only his second game in a Terp uniform. When he stepped toward the lane, College of Charleston guard Donavan Monroe met him there, but the freshman twisted back to the right and sunk a decisive fading jumper.

"I knew everything I wanted," Howard said after the Terps' dramatic 75-74 victory last night. "And then after he cut me off going to the middle, everything else was instinct, the spin back and then the step back. I felt good when I shot it."

A final effort from Cougar senior sharpshooter Andrew Goudelock couldn't return to College of Charleston the lead it had held for so long inside Comcast Center, and as the shot clanged off the rim, Howard and the Terps celebrated a wild second game of their season.

"We were very fortunate to win that game," Gary Williams said. "The best thing we did, we didn't quit. There were several times where I really had questions. This early in the year, you don't know. But you watch the players and you watch the adversity, throwing the ball away, missing a couple easy shots, all those things were reasons for us not to win the game, but we found a way."

The Terps fell behind early, with Goudelock's first 3-pointer of the game appropriately handing the Cougars their first lead. The Southern Conference's preseason pick for Player of the Year ended with a game-high 27 points, including 15 from behind the arc.

"We made a couple mistakes early, and when you give a shooter and a scorer — and he's a combination of both of those things — confidence, he can have a great night, which he did," Williams said. "It seemed like every time we made a mistake, he made the shot."

College of Charleston built a steady lead as the Terps struggled from the field and at the free-throw line. The Terps missed their first six shots from the charity stripe and finished 5-for-18 on the night.

After the Cougars took a nine-point lead with less than three minutes remaining in the first half — their largest of the opening frame — Williams called a timeout to collect his team. Howard and the Terps heard his message, and the freshman's find of backup center Berend Weijs led to a buzzer-beating, game-tying layup at halftime.

Coming out of halftime, the Terps looked to be in control. Even as they traded points with the frenetic Cougars, the Terps became the pacesetters.

But it was slow going. After eight minutes, the Terps had built a lead of just five points, letting Goudelock stay within striking distance. When presented with opportunities to fire back, the senior did not hesitate, and he scored 14 points in an 18-5 run that destroyed the Terps' advantage and gave the Cougars a 68-60 lead.

When the Terps inched their way back, free-throw troubles again got the best of them. With 54 seconds left, forward Jordan Williams sunk one free throw to pull the Terps within a point before missing the second. Williams ended with a career-high 26 points but went just 2-for-8 from the line.

Then Goudelock missed a 3-pointer that could have effectively ended the game, and Howard grabbed the long rebound. Calling a timeout to set up his team's final play, Williams elected to put the ball in the hands of his freshman guard.

"I just go on hunches a lot of times in games, and I think it's very important that players know you have confidence in them, no matter what the situation," Williams said. "If Pe'Shon's going to play in the backcourt for us, I can't take him out of the game just because that's a pressure situation. … He never flinched, and that's difficult to do as a freshman point guard."

kyanchulis@umdbk.com