Nick Martinelli caught an inbounds pass and made a 10-foot jumper at the overtime buzzer to give Northwestern a 76-74 win against Maryland on Thursday in Evanston, Ill.
Martinelli finished with 22 points. His decisive play came when the Wildcats inbounded from the offensive end line with 0.7 seconds left. Officials ruled the shot good after a video review.
On his way to topping the 1,000-point mark for his career, Brooks Barnhizer produced 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists as the Wildcats (11-6, 2-4 Big Ten) snapped a three-game losing streak.
Northwestern also got 15 points from Ty Berry, who came off the bench after making 73 straight starts.
Julian Reese scored 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead Maryland (13-5, 3-4), which has lost all four of its conference road games this season and eight of its past nine on the road dating to last season.
Derik Queen put up nine points and 14 rebounds for the Terrapins. Ja’Kobi Gillespie scored 14 points, and Rodney Rice added 10.
Trailing by three points early in the second half, Northwestern went on a 13-point run to take a 56-46 lead.
Barnhizer, Berry and Martinelli each hit 3-pointers during the burst, which was highlighted by Barnhizer’s steal and breakaway one-handed slam, which put him over the 1,000-point mark.
Maryland was still down by nine points with four minutes left when Rice triggered a rally with a 3-pointer and a baseline jumper.
A driving layup by Gillespie with six seconds left capped an 11-2 Maryland run to close regulation and send the game to overtime.
In the extra period, neither team led by more than two points. Another driving layup by Gillespie with six seconds left tied it 74-74 before Martinelli dropped his game-winner.
In the first half, there were nine ties and 11 lead changes. Maryland took the biggest lead of the period 16-10 as DeShawn Harris-Smith capped a six-point spree with a steal and fastbreak layup.
In the final 5:46 of the half, Berry made a pair of triples while scoring 10 points. A buzzer-beating layup by Martinelli gave the Wildcats a 38-37 lead at the break.
During the Wildcats’ three-game skid, Berry had accumulated more fouls (nine) than points (five) as he had made just 1 of 10 shots from long distance.
–Field Level Media
