Maryland basketball will open its NCAA Tournament against Belmont on Thursday afternoon. The Bruins just defeated Temple 81-70 in a First Four matchup in Dayton, Ohio, on Tuesday night.
It was a back-and-forth contest, with the two No. 11 seeds trading runs with each other. Belmont closed the first period on a 20-9 run and took a 37-31 lead into halftime, then went up 11 early in the second half. Temple answered by scoring 10 straight and led by five points a few minutes later. But the Bruins followed with a 16-3 run, and they wouldn’t relinquish the lead for the final 9:48.