STATE COLLEGE, Pa. _ The skepticism of Las Vegas bookies descended on the Bryce Jordan Center on Tuesday night, where the nation's No. 4 men's basketball team came in unbeaten and upbeat after a last-second win as a slight underdog to a team coming off a 32-point road defeat.
In reality, the bettors showed more faith in Maryland than the Terps showed themselves for long stretches in a 76-69 loss to Penn State that both ended an unbeaten season for Mark Turgeon's team and _ in the aftermath of a one-point win at home Saturday over Illinois _ raised questions about how overrated it was in the first place.
The defeat _ the fourth straight time Maryland (10-1, 1-1 Big Ten) has lost on the road at Penn State (8-2, 1-1) _ prevented the Terps from matching the 11-0 records by the 1975-76 and 1996-97 teams as the best in school history to start a season.
Maryland buried itself early, with a slew of sloppy turnovers that saw an early 10-9 lead quickly become a 21-10 deficit. That included a stretch of six straight turnovers and seven in nine possessions against a team that came in leading the Big Ten by forcing 16 turnovers a game. The Terps committed a season-high 20.
Senior guard Anthony Cowan Jr., whose late-game heroics helped Maryland beat Illinois, 59-58, on Saturday at Xfinity Center, led the Terps with 16 points, but missed 12 of 17 shots, including 6 of 9 3-point attempts. He also missed three of six free throws, including a critical pair as Maryland was mounting a second-half comeback.
Sophomore forward Jalen Smith got his seventh double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out.
Senior forwards Lamar Stevens and Mike Watkins each got double doubles for Penn State. Watkins finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds while Stevens, a preseason All-Big Ten selection and a first-team selection last season, finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds. The Nittany Lions had five players score in double figures.
Penn State chanted "overrated" as Cowan made a pair of free throws with 5.9 seconds left, then swarmed the court after the buzzer sounded.
The Terps couldn't control a defensive rebound in the final seconds of the first half and, after Penn State inbounded under its basket with 0.6 of a second left, sophomore guard Myreon Jones hit a corner 3 to give the Nittany Lions a 40-30 halftime lead.
The Terps threatened several times during the second half to take back control, but each time fell short because of a combination of turnovers, missed free throws and some big shots by Penn State. The last time came after Cowan, who had missed a pair of free throws earlier, hit one of two to trim the deficit to 58-55 with 5:53 left.
But redshirt sophomore guard Izaiah Brockington hit a 3-pointer as the shot clock was about to expire and after Cowan missed a tough shot in the lane, Jones scored on a drive. After Smith hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit back to six, Stevens was fouled trying to dunk over Smith, making both free throws.
