A year after going down to the wire to beat 13th-seeded Valparaiso as a No. 4 seed in its opening game of the NCAA tournament, the Maryland men’s basketball team didn’t want to sweat Friday against South Dakota State.
For much of their game at the Spokane Arena, the fifth-seeded Terps looked like they were barely going to need to towel off by the end of this first-round South Regional game. Maryland fans, so used to closer-than-needed endings, were nervous.
With their 18-point lead nearly gone and with sophomore point guard Melo Trimble on the bench after fouling out with 1:03 remaining, the Terps racheted up the angst.