Belmont blows upset bid vs. Maryland after bone-head decision

The No. 11 Belmont Bruins were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament by a score of 79-77 after an end-game possession gone terribly wrong, allowing the No. 6 Maryland Terrapins to continue to advance through the NCAA Tournament.

Just when it looked like Belmont had Maryland on the ropes, they went and did something dumb and let them off the hook. Belmont ended up blowing their upset bid vs. the Terps and depriving the nation an upset many had picked in their brackets.

Belmont should have won, but they didn’t.

With one timeout left in the game, the No. 11 seeded Belmont Bruins were looking for a basket, but found only heartbreak, falling just short of a first-round victory against the No. 6 seeded Maryland Terrapins.

With just under 20 seconds left in the game, Belmont attempted a misguided backdoor cut into the tall frontcourt of the Terrapins, despite having a timeout left and clean possession of the ball. In a tough twist of fate, the Bruins turned the ball over with the seconds ticking down, and were forced to go to the foul against the Terrapins, who capitalized on the opportunity, holding their lead to the end.

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In a terrible decision-making tactic that would lead to a heartbreaking loss for the Bruins, they chose to forgo their final timeout, electing to run their pre-set offense instead. Had they taken the opportunity to draw up a play under Head Coach Rick Byrd, they may have had a great opportunity at pulling off the upset.

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The Bruins had one more chance late as the seconds ticked, but couldn’t get the shot to fall.

Despite a massive 35-point outing from their 6-foot-8 senior guard Dylan Windler, the Bruins were unable to capitalize on a late-game comeback that gave them the opportunity to move on to play another young team in the LSU Tigers.

Mark Turgeon’s young team appeared to be in a bit of trouble headed down the stretch, as almost none of their shots would fall. However, the Terrapins did just enough in the end, featuring a late three from star guard Anthony Cowen (9 points, 6 assists), and move on to play the Terrapins after their two-point win over the Bruins.

Cowan and college basketball’s fourth-youngest team moves on in the tournament, avoiding the upset thanks to that absolute heartbreaker of a blunder from the Belmont Bruins.