Barnhizer gave Maryland new life when he missed the front end of a one-and-one with 17 seconds left. Gillespie blew past Nicholson for a game-tying layup and Reese again stonewalled Barnhizer to send the game to overtime. Rice was no longer available, having been left on the court with no choice but to pick up his fifth foul when Maryland needed to foul Barnhizer to stop the clock late in regulation.

On the first possession of overtime, Reese’s inside shot rolled off the rim, but Queen tipped it in to give Maryland its first lead in a long time, 70-68.

Young dropped the ball while getting too fancy on the fastbreak, another of those bobbles that hurt them. Gillespie chased it down and flicked it to Reese under the rim for what should’ve been a layup, but he dropped it too. The next time downcourt, with the game tied, Reese drove inside but fumbled it out of bounds. Take away any of those dropped balls in big situations, and the result probably would’ve been different. But that’s not how it works.

With a two-point lead and the clock ticking under three minutes in overtime, Gillespie made a big mistake, dribbling the ball upcourt slowly and drawing a 10-second violation. Martinelli capitalized, spinning and floating in a game-tying teardrop over Reese. Gillespie drove baseline and drew a crowd before hitting a wide-open Miguel in the corner, but his three missed. Reese swatted a Berry drive to keep the game tied with about 90 seconds left.

A sloppy possession ensued, the ball being whipped around with little direction. Miguel didn’t pass the ball to a wide-open Gillespie. They had another chance to take the lead seconds later, but Gillespie’s fastbreak layup didn’t drop as he dropped to the floor, waving his hands at the officials for a foul call; the replay showed Berry pulling down his arm. Another game-changing play.

With 15 ties and 14 lead changes in the book, the game tied and 30 seconds left, Collins called timeout to set up a play. Naturally, it was an iso to Barinhizer, who’d been using his blend of power and driving ability to get inside baskets all night. Miguel stayed with him and hit the ball out of his hands, but he didn’t recover in time to defend Barnhizer after he corraled the loose ball. Surprised by how open he was, he took a step and laid it in for a 74-72 lead with 16 seconds left.

Gillespie drove and scored to tie the game after a Willard timeout. Then he poked the ball away on defense, seemingly sending the game to double-overtime unless one of his teammates grabbed the loose ball and drilled a 70-footer. Instead, they never got another possession. Nicholson swooped from behind and slapped the ball out of Reese’s hands, off his knee and out of bounds with seven-tenths of a second left, setting up Martinelli’s game winner.