COLLEGE PARK, Md. _ One by one, the Maryland starters went over to the school's special guest sitting at courtside. One by one, the Terps paid homage to Lefty Driesell, who had come Saturday to see a banner hung in his honor at a sold-out Xfinity Center.
Then the Maryland men's basketball team did something Driesell's teams did 348 times during his 17-year career with the Terps, something Mark Turgeon's 21st-ranked team didn't do in its last two games. Avoiding the first three-game losing streak since Turgeon's first season, Maryland beat undermanned Ohio State, 86-77.
The Terps were led by freshman guard Anthony Cowan, who scored 16 of his team-high 19 points in the second half, and freshman wing Kevin Huerter, who finished with 18. Both players hit huge end-of-shot clock 3-pointers after the Buckeyes cut what had been a 14-point deficit to five.
The victory helped Maryland (21-4, 9-3) regain a share of second-place in the Big Ten and gain some much-needed momentum into a two-game road trip at Northwestern on Wednesday and Wisconsin on Feb. 19.
Senior forward led Marc Loving led Ohio State (15-11, 5-8) with 24 points. Junior Jae'Sean Tate had 20.
The offense from Cowan, Huerter and junior guard Jaylen Brantley, who scored eight of his 11 bench points in the first half, helped offset another tough shooting performance by junior guard Melo Trimble, who finished with 10 points on 3 of 11 from the field, including 1 of 6 on 3-pointers.
Cowan hit all 10 of his free throws, as well as 3 of 4 3-point attempts. Huerter was 7 of 12 from the field, and Brantley also made 3 of 4 of his 3-pointers. As a team, the Terps made 12 of 29 on 3-pointers compared with 8 of 17 for Ohio State.
The Buckeyes hung around despite playing without sophomore guard JaQuan Lyle, who left the team Thursday because of a family emergency in Indiana. Ohio State also lost both of its centers, Trevor Thompson and Micah Potter, on fouls in the second half.
Much more active on defense than they were at Penn State, the Terps opened up a 9-0 lead as the Buckeyes missed their first nine shots. Ohio State closed the gap behind Loving, but after a pull-up elbow jumper by junior guard Kam Williams cut it to 13-11, Maryland started to pull away.
After two free throws by Tate made it 16-13, the Terps went on an 11-2 run highlighted by a steal-and-drive by Brantley and a pair of 3-pointers by Brantley, who had come into the game making just two of his last eight.
The Buckeyes got their 12-point deficit down to seven, but the Terps made it 12 again with the help of 3-pointers by Huerter and junior wing Jared Nickens. Maryland stretched it to as many as 16, 40-26, on the second of two straight dunks by junior center Michal Cekovsky.
Leading 45-31 at halftime, the Terps had their lead whittled to 54-47 when Loving hit a wide-open 3-pointer with a little over 14 minutes left. After a Maryland timeout, the Terps increased the lead back to nine on a shot in the lane by redshirt sophomore forward Ivan Bender.
The Buckeyes twice cut their deficit back to six, the second time at 58-52 on a drive by Tate. But Brantley hit a 3-pointer and following a jumper in the lane by Williams, fed senior forward L.G. Gill for a layup.
