Maryland Rides Big Performances from Fernando and Cowan Jr. in Comeback Win
Written by Sterling Myhre on 01/14/2019
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Things extremely looked bleak for the Maryland Terrapins for most of the first half. The Terps trailed the 22nd ranked Indiana Hoosiers by 14 with only 7 minutes remaining in the first half.
However, the fans and the players in College Park simply wouldn’t go away in what was arguably UMD’s biggest game of the season to date. Not only were the Terps facing their second highest ranked opponent of the season and a conference opponent, but Alabama graduate transfer quarterback Jalen Hurts was also in attendance.
The Terps come from behind win was led by sophomore forward Bruno Fernando and junior guard Anthony Cowan Jr. Fernando poured in a career-high 25 points and added 13 rebounds while Cowan Jr. was good for another 24 points.
After losing their big lead in the second half, Hoosier freshman guard Romeo Langford tried to regain control of the game for his team. Langford, who was ranked the #7 overall high school prospect in the 2018 class by 247sports.com, dropped 28 points. Langford got especially hot at the end of the game as he went 2 for 3 from 3 point range in the last two minutes but the effort was not enough as the Terps won 78-75.
Maryland Head Coach Mark Turgeon had this to say about the win after the game, “that was a great win. One of my best wins and I’ve been doing this for a long time. To not start the game well again, we got to fix it. We got to do better. We were flat. We weren’t good and Indiana was terrific. I think we fed off of our fans in the second half. I think our crowd was incredible for our students being gone. It was loud in there and it gave us a lot of energy.”
With students returning to classes on Monday, and with the heart of Maryland’s Big Ten schedule coming up, the Terps will need to feed off of the future crowds at the Xfinity Center to help propel them to a fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in five years.
WHAT’S NEXT?:
- Maryland (14-3) will take on the Wisconsin Badgers at home on Monday at 8:30 PM ET.
- Indiana (12-4) will return home to face the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Monday at 6:30 PM ET.
