EVANSTON, Ill. _Maryland junior guard Melo Trimble resembled his old, younger self Wednesday at Welsh-Ryan Arena, both in terms of facial hair he didn't have and the shooting touch he always seems to have against Northwestern.
In the midst of a four-game shooting slump, Trimble took over the game early against the Wildcats, and wasn't finished until he had produced one of the more spectacular shooting performances of his career.
Trimble finished with a career-high 32 points on 12-of-17 shooting, including 4-of-5 on 3-pointers, to lead the No. 23 Terps to a much-needed 74-64 victory over Northwestern, which was coming off an upset of then-No. 7 Wisconsin in Madison, Wis.
That is where Maryland (22-4 overall, 10-3 Big Ten) is headed Sunday after going back to College Park, Md., for a couple of days. Now tied with Purdue, the Terps could also find themselves tied with the Badgers, who are 10-2 going into Thursday's game at Michigan.
Maryland led by 10 at halftime and by as many as 20 in the second half before Northwestern (19-7, 8-5) cut its deficit to nine with a little more than three minutes left. With a chance to get it closer, and with the crowd roaring, Wildcats guard Isiah Brown missed a 3-pointer.
The Terps answered when senior center Damonte Dodd scored inside, and some of the sellout crowd began to leave. Fans stopped momentarily when Northwestern guard Vic Law was fouled behind the 3-point line, and his three free throws cut it back to nine.
But freshman guard Anthony Cowan made both ends of a one-and-one with 1:25 left. Law scored in the lane and was fouled, again by freshman Kevin Huerter, with 1:17 left. Law missed the free throw, and Terps forward Justin Jackson was fouled on the rebound.
Jackson missed, and Dodd was called for a push. Northwestern sophomore forward Dererk Pardon, who earlier had missed two free throws and barely hit the rim on the second, made the second of two to make it an eight-point game.
Cowan was fouled again. This time, he missed the first and made the second. Junior guard Bryant McIntosh missed a runner in the lane, and Dodd got the rebound cleanly this time. He made the first of two to make it a 10-point game.
It was the fourth straight victory for Maryland over Northwestern since joining the Big Ten, and the fourth straight time Trimble outplayed his counterpart, McIntosh, who got into early foul trouble and finished with just nine points on 3-of-13 shooting, 0-for-5 on 3s.
Trimble, who came in having shot just 30 percent over his team's last four games, made his first two 3s and five of the seven shots he took in the first half.
Helped by the fact that McIntosh got into early foul trouble, picking up a pair of fouls in the opening three minutes and his third with 4:26 left in the opening half, Maryland led after its first possession and never trailed.
While an early 9-2 lead was followed by seven straight possessions without a point, Trimble helped the Terps regain their touch and build the lead up to 11, 27-16, on a tap-in by senior center Damonte Dodd.
Despite the absence of McIntosh, who had more fouls than points (two) in the half, the Wildcats twice cut their deficit to seven before a three-point play by Trimble with 2.4 seconds left made it 32-22.
Trimble finished the half with 13 points, while Dodd and freshman guard Anthony Cowan each had six. The Terps shot 13-of-29 in the half, including four of nine on 3-pointers, and had seven of their shots blocked.
Sophomore center Dererk Pardon led Northwestern with six points. The Wildcats shot 9-of-28 in the half, including just 2-of-12 on 3-pointers. McIntosh, who was coming off a 25-point performance in Sunday's upset at Wisconsin, was 1-of-six in the first half.
Trimble, who had scored just one point in the second half in each of the last games, drove twice for baskets early in the second half, hit one of two free throws after driving a third time and then hit his third straight 3-pointer with 6-foot-6 defender Sanjay Lumpkin in his face.
The 3-pointer increased the lead to 44-31. After Dodd made one of two free throws, Trimble hit a deep 3-pointer from the left wing to increase Maryland's lead to 18. That silenced what had been a loud and rowdy crowd.
