BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — In the final game of his collegiate career, Kedrian Johnson scored a career-high 27 points. With 4.7 seconds to play, Johnson had the ball with the chance to tie or win the game. Unfortunately for Johnson and West Virginia, his leaping attempt came up just short as Maryland beat West Virginia 67-65 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“The last shot, it looked to me like it grazed the front of the rim,” West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins said. “So, he’s an inch away from winning the game for us. It was dead on-line, it just missed by a few inches.”
Thursday afternoon had it all in Birmingham, Alabama, between No. 9 West Virginia and No. 8 Maryland. It was physical, back-and-forth, and had the feel of March.
West Virginia started the game almost as well as they could have expected. Within the first nine minutes of the game, West Virginia’s defense was making their presence known. The Mountaineers led 16-4, with 11:07 to play in the first half, as the Terrapins called a timeout.
Out of the timeout, Maryland would pick things up on the offensive end and would match West Virginia on the defensive end. Maryland would go on a 16-2 run, with a Jahmir Young three-pointer putting Maryland ahead, 22-21.
“I just told me team just keep fighting,” Maryland forward Donta Scott said. You get down, you don’t want to get down on yourselves. At that time, it’s battle time. Time to lock in. Do some of the thing that you probably weren’t doing before, 50-50 ones. Losing those battles. Just get after it.”
The Mountaineers would respond with five consecutive points, but that would not limit the Terrapins. Maryland scored six points over the final 2:35 of the first half, heading into the locker room with a 32-30 lead.
Maryland’s momentum continued throughout the beginning of the second half, scoring six points in the opening 1:33, giving them their biggest lead of the game, 38-31.
West Virginia would turn to their fifth-year point guard, Johnson. He went on a 10-0 run by himself, converting back-to-back three-point plays, before hitting a three-pointer and making a free throw after a foul. Seth Wilson then hit a three-pointer, as Johnson then hit another three-pointer capping off a 16-0 run to put the Mountaineers in front 47-38, with 15:05 to play.
“Every shot I took today I thought it had a chance of going in,” Johnson said. Huggins added, “He was terrific. He was absolutely terrific. Without him we wouldn’t been able to stay in the game.”
Maryland got back into the game in the middle part of the second half, going on a 9-0 run with all points coming in the paint or at the free throw line, to lead 52-51.
Down the stretch, Maryland and West Virginia went back-and-forth.
Erik Stevenson hit a three-pointer with 5:45 to play to put the Mountaineers in front 59-56, forcing a Maryland timeout. From that point on though, West Virginia’s go-to scorer would not have anything fall. Stevenson missed five shots in the final 4:45 of the game, as Maryland increased their lead to as many as five with 1:36 to play.
“I just struggled from the floor today,” Stevenson said.
It would be Johnson making two free throws to cut the deficit to three. Tre Mitchell made a layup with 8.4 seconds to play to trail by one. The Mountaineers then trapped Young, but were called for a foul with 4.7 seconds left. Young made the first, missed the second, before Johnson’s buzzer beater attempt came up just short.
Johnson finished with 27 points on 8 for 13 shooting, while going 4 for 8 from three. Stevenson finished with just nine points, on 4 for 17 shooting, and made one of his four three-point attempts.
West Virginia turned the ball over eight times leading to 13 Maryland points. The Terrapins had eight offensive rebounds and seven second-chance points.
