Maryland edges K-State in Barclays Center Classic title game

Maryland guard Melo Trimble hit a driving lay-up with 6 seconds to play for a 69-68 win over Kansas State in the championship game of the Barclays Center Classic Saturday.

K-State, after trailing most of the game, seemed to have its first tournament title under Bruce Weber in hand after D.J. Johnson (career-high 26 points, eight rebounds) had followed up Barry Brown’s driving miss for a 68-65 lead with 1:23 left to play.

But Trimble (18 points, five turnovers), an All-American who had been largely contained by Brown throughout the game, cut the lead to one with a driving lay-up with 20 seconds to play and then, after Wesley Iwundu missed the front end of a one-and-one with 14 seconds, scored the game winner.

Brown missed a potential game-winning runner as time expired.

“Obviously it was a heartbreaking loss for us,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said. “We played with a lot of heart and determination in the second half.”

The loss underscored a momentous Wildcat effort to climb back into the game.

In the second half K-State (5-1) was battling, and much of that had to do with Brown. It started on defense. After Brown hit a deep two-pointer to cut Maryland’s lead to 42-38 with 15:06 to play, he dove on the floor for a loose ball, slipping to Iwundu, who ran a two-man game with Johnson that led to a Johnson alley-oop. Brown followed with two fearless drives to the hoop for baskets, cutting Maryland’s lead to 46:44 with 11:36 to play.

Kamau Stokes tied the game at 54-54 with a three-pointer at 6:50, then gave K-State its first lead since 12:50 in the first half at 58-56 with a short jump shot at 4:42.

“Stokes and Brown really stepped up in the second half,” said Weber.

Iwundu (16 points, 11 rebounds) was a stabilizing influence for the Wildcats throughout the game. Twice in the first half Iwundu found Johnson in the low post with passes that led to dunks. With less than a minute to play until the half Iwundu spun past Anthony Cowan for a baseline dunk over 7-1 Michal Cekovsky and was fouled. The three-point play cut Maryland’s lead to 35-29 heading into the half.

“(Iwundu) carried us in the first half when we were a little stagnant,” Weber said.

Maryland struggled to match K-State’s physical play inside. Johnson was a force inside, but the Wildcats also received physical play from Dean Wade and Isaiah Maurice inside. Maryland rotated 7-1 Michael Cekovsky and 6-11 Damonte Dodd against K-State’s bigs, but the Wildcats weren’t deterred, continuing to attack inside.

Brown did a credible job containing the tournament MVP Trimble, who scored a career-high 31 points against Richmond in the semifinals on Friday. Brown limited Trimble to six points in the first half while forcing him into four turnovers.

A key first-half play happened near the sideline when Stokes stripped Trimble and while falling out of bounds found Brown who completed the lay-up and was fouled for a three-point play to give K-State its first lead 14-11 with 12:50 to play.

Brown and Johnson were named to the All-Tournament team.

This story was originally published November 26, 2016 at 11:27 PM with the headline "Maryland edges K-State in Barclays Center Classic title game."