Maryland men get 69-67 win over Iowa behind Jahmir Young’s late-game heroics

IOWA CITY — Jahmir Young was quiet for only so long, and ended up quieting the Carver-Hawkeye Arena fans Wednesday.

The fifth-year senior guard had averaged 25.4 points over Maryland’s previous seven games, but had just five at halftime against Iowa. He made two 3-pointers and a game-winning drive in the game’s last 1:25 and the Terrapins left town with a 69-67 victory over the Hawkeyes.

The loss was Iowa’s second-straight and dropped it to 3-5 in the Big Ten and 11-8 overall. Maryland improved to 4-5, 12-8.

Young finished with 22 points, the final two on his knife to the basket with two seconds left. Payton Sandfort’s last-second half-court heave was short for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa had three of its 14 turnovers in a stretch of 1:13 as Maryland pulled within 63-61 with 3:02 left. Then Young went to work.

“We just turned the ball over and we let Jahmir take the game over,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said.

Maryland had 14 turnovers itself. But it shot 54.2 percent from the field in the second half to Iowa’s 33.3.

It was Maryland’s third-straight game decided by one score, and sixth overall. This was the first of Iowa’s 19 games that went down to the final possession. In fact, it was the first decided by less than eight points. The Hawkeyes didn’t handle that new experience well.

Real trouble began when Iowa freshman center Owen Freeman (14 points, 9 rebounds) fouled out with 3:07 remaining and his team up 63-59. That opened things up at both ends for the Terps.

Maryland power forward Julian Reese had 17 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.

Iowa didn’t make a basket in the last 5:44, but didn’t totally buckle on offense. Tony Perkins made all six of his free throw tries in the final 4:43, including two that tied the game with: 28 to play.

Maryland Coach Kevin Willard called a timeout eight seconds later. The inbounds pass went to Young, who dribbled until he drove down the left side of the paint and put the ball off the glass and into the basket.

“That’s what he does,” McCaffery said. “You’ve got to give him credit. We have to do a better job there. That was disappointing because you know he’s the guy and we let him kind of dictate coming down the stretch, especially after he hit the first (3-pointer).”

This was never a game that had great vibes to it from Iowa’s perspective. It led by as much as 10 points in the first half and 34-28 at halftime, but missed all seven of its 3-point tries and didn’t take full advantage of Maryland making as many turnovers (9) as baskets.

The Hawkeyes moved ahead 41-32 after that, but missed nine of 10 field goal and fell behind 46-45. It was Maryland’s first lead since it lost its 3-0 edge.

Iowa battled back to open a 61-54 lead, but the Terps took a 64-63 lead with the first of Young’s two late 3s. The second gave his team a 67-65 edge with 38 seconds left. Perkins tied the game with the last of his foul shots, then Young finished it.

Perkins led Iowa with 20 points. Sandfort had a season-low 6 points on 3-of-9 shooting, and was morose afterward.

“I’ve been disappearing in big moments,” he said. “It’s something I want to be a lot better at.”

Iowa was held well under its Big Ten-leading average of 86.1 points.

“We were not in sync, I think, most of the game,” McCaffery said. “I think that was obvious.

“We did some things that are just not acceptable. And I’ll take the blame for that. We knew they were going to press. They’ve been pressing. We just can’t turn the ball over and then let them score in seconds.”

Iowa’s next game is at Michigan Saturday at 4 p.m. (CT). The Wolverines are last in the Big Ten at 2-6, with one of the wins 90-80 at Iowa last Dec. 10.

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