Stoglin scores 20, Pankey comes up clutch against Florida International
Even after victories, a common phrase uttered by Mark Tiurgeon in his first month as coach at Maryland has been: “We just don’t know how to win.”
Wednesday night in a close game against Florida International, the Terrapins found a way despite making just two field goals in the final 9 minutes, 10 seconds. With freshman Ashton Pankey blocking two layups and converting a pair of free throws in the final minute, the Terps grinded out a 65-61 win over Florida International at Comcast Center.
“We make it very interesting,” Turgeon said. “We worked so hard defensively. It was really good to see us win with defense.”
It wasn’t pretty, but it was a sign of progress for Maryland (6-3), which also got a pair of clutch free throws each in the final 30 seconds from sophomore Terrell Stoglin (20 points) and freshman Nick Faust (nine points). Faust also missed a pair, but made up for it with the clinching layup with two seconds left.
“It’s a good thing to get a close win like this. It just builds the confidence in the players,” Stoglin said. “I think coach feels we don’t know how to win, but we’re learning. It’s a process. We’re getting better.”
It was the Terps’ second straight such win. A week earlier they were taken to the wire by lowly Mount St. Mary’s, emerging 77-74.
“That was a really good win for us. We were as bad as we could be in the first half,” Turgeon said of the FIU victory. “We won another close game. That’s the key, to figure out how to win close games.”
Three stitches in the chin of Pankey closed an appropriate battle scar in this ugly game. The 6-9 forward sustained the injury as he went up for a rebound in the opening minutes. He went to the locker room and didn’t return until the second half. Pankey (13 points, six rebounds) hit five of nine shots and helped the Terps to a 38-30 edge on the boards.
It was the kind of leadership Turgeon has wanted to see from Pankey, who has been in and out of the starting lineup and played just one minute in the BB&T Classic against Notre Dame.
“I think it was probably the biggest thing in my career, sitting out the Notre Dame game,” Pankey said. “Coach was basically sending me a message. He wants me to be a leader even though I’m a freshman.”
Florida International (3-7) of the Sun Belt Conference, coached by former NBA great Isiah Thomas, had its best stretch late in the first half. Sophomore guard Phil Taylor (20 points, seven assists) scored seven straight points and senior guard Jeremy Allen (18 points, four steals) followed with a 3-pointer as the Panthers took a 34-23 lead.
Six mintues into the second half, FIU still led by seven points. But by scoring on six straight possessions, the Terps got the lead. Pankey muscled for a pair of putbacks and another layup and Sean Mosley added a 3-point play off a 10-foot jumper for a 49-48 lead.
The run was particularly gratifying for the Terps as most of it came with Stoglin on the bench after picking up his third and fourth fouls in the span of 55 seconds.
“We were lucky this week because Terrell had an ankle injury, so we were able to practice two and a half days without him and had really good practices,” Turgeon said. “We learned to play without him and that was great for us. You could not have scripted it any better.”
When Stoglin returned with 7:12 left, he was ready to lead, and scored eight points the rest of the way. Stoglin struggled with his shot all night, hitting 3 of 13, but made 9 0f 11 from the free-throw line.
“Coach put a lot of trust in me,” Stoglin said. “He didn’t really say much about my shot selection or missing shots, or anything like that. He just said, ‘Keep playing. Everything’s going to be alright.'”
Slowly Turgeon is coming to trust his Terps and is learning how to push the right buttons.
“I told the kids, ‘Just act like a team that plays hard,'” Turgeon said of his halftime message. “Today is the first day that we guarded the way we’re capable of guarding. We’re not a great defensive team yet, but we really guarded out there.”
