COLLEGE PARK, Md. _ Maryland junior point guard Anthony Cowan Jr. is not a great 3-point shooter _ except when the 3-point shot clock is winding down and the game is on the line.
A 3-pointer by Cowan with just three seconds left on the shot clock and 33.9 seconds left in Saturday's Big Ten opener helped No. 24 Maryland survive Penn State, 66-59.
The shot by Cowan, who finished with 15 points, came as the Terps were holding onto a 61-59 lead after being up by five, 58-53, with less than three minutes to go.
Freshman Jalen Smith led Maryland (7-1, 1-0 Big Ten) with 16 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore center Bruno Fernando finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season.
Junior forward Lamar Stevens led Penn State (4-3, 0-1) with 19 points and eight rebounds, while senior guard Josh Reaves finished with 17, all in the first half.
After hitting six of its first eight shots and taking a quick 12-3 lead, Maryland went cold. The Terps managed just two field goals in the last 13:19 of the first half, and fell behind by as many as eight, 29-21, before closing the deficit to one, 31-30, at halftime.
While missing 11 of its last 13 shots of the opening half, Maryland also hit 13 of 17 from the free-throw line, including an 8-for-8 showing by Fernando, who scored all his points on free throws in the half. Reaves kept Penn State in the game early.
The Terps started the second half on a 9-2 run and led by as many as eight, 47-39, after scoring twice inside on big-to-big passes between Fernando and Smith, who seemed to be playing with more energy and assertiveness than in recent games.
But Smith picked up his third personal foul with 12:32 left and the Nittany Lions went on a 9-0 run to take the lead. Sophomore guard Darryl Morsell then missed a pair of free throws that would have given the Terps the lead.
Morsell redeemed himself later, hitting a slashing drive for a 56-53 lead and then finding Smith, his former high school teammate, for a lob dunk and a five-point lead. But the Terps allowed the Nittany Lions to hang around despite not scoring for a little over four minutes.
After a timeout by Penn State coach Patrick Chambers, Stevens scored in the lane to cut the deficit to 58-55, but Cowan hit a pull-up 3-pointer that was answered with a long 2-pointer by freshman guard Myles Dread.
A turnover by Cowan led to another freshman guard, Rashir Bolton, getting fouled on a drive and then cutting the Maryland lead back to two, 61-59, with a little over a minute left. With 33.9 seconds left in the game, Cowan's 3-pointer finally gave the Terps some breathing room.
