COLLEGE PARK — On a night where the Terrapins were frequently on the brink of losing to in-state foe Mount St. Mary’s for the first time in 13 games, Diggy Coit outshone everyone on the court with a signature, Maryland record-book performance.
The Terrapin guard scored a career-high 41 points and single-handedly willed Maryland to victory, forcing overtime with a game-tying 3-pointer and adding 7 more points in the extra session in a 95-90 comeback win Wednesday night.
“I think what was working was my teammates put me in position to score, spacing, reading the game, making the right decisions,” Coit said. “And I think it just flowed into me scoring tonight.”
Coit was 11-of-17 from the floor, a blistering 8-of-10 from three, and a perfect 11-for-11 from the foul line. The Kansas transfer scored 16 of Maryland’s final 19 points in regulation, including a three off an inbound with 8 seconds left to tie the game at 77 and force overtime.
“I know that a lot of people think like, when you’re in the zone, you think about your shots. But we’ve got to win this game. That’s all I’m thinking about,” Coit said. “Like, what can I do to help us win this game? What can I do, to what can I say, or saying the right thing to help the team make the right play to win this game? Because big performances and moments like this, it really don’t matter if you don’t win.”
His 41 points set an Xfinity Center record and are the third-most ever by a Terrapin.
“He’s easy to like, and I can’t coach everybody like I used to coach, and that’s probably why I can still have a job, but I can coach him like I used to coach, and he asked me to coach him that way,” Maryland coach Buzz Williams said.
Darius Adams (19), Andre Mills (12), and Elijah Saunders (14) all finished in double figures for Maryland (4-1). Saunders led all first-half scorers with 11 and didn’t score again until a three from the top of the key gave the Terrapins a momentary 84-81 lead in overtime.
A credit to Diggy, but also a credit to those eight guys that played in a completely different role than they’ve ever played,” Williams said. “We’ve played five games, and every game there’s been a different role assigned.”
Arlandus Keyes’ 22 points off the bench led the Mountaineers (1-4), who outshot Maryland 55% to 38% in the second half after the Terrapins held an eight-point halftime lead. Fouls caught up with the Mountaineers, with 28 infractions allowing the Terrapins to go to the line 47 times, making 37 of those chances.
“I do think the things that we’re practicing are translating,” Williams said. “We just need them to translate at a faster rate.”
Adding to the victory was the Wednesday night decision by five-star, Blake High School forward Baba Oladotun to commit to play for Maryland next season, a major get for Williams’ first full recruiting class.
The 16-year-old, 6-foot-10 forward from Silver Spring becomes the second-highest-ranked recruit in program history, choosing to stay home over offers from Arkansas, Georgetown and Kentucky and elevating Maryland’s 2026 class into the top five nationally. Loud cheers and chants of “Baba” went up from the Xfinity Center crowd late in the first half as Oladotun made his announcement.
The banged-up Terrapins played without Pharrel Payne, Myles Rice, George Turkson and Solomon Washington. Payne is the latest addition to the list of walking wounded after taking an awkward split fall following a dunk in last Saturday’s win at Marquette. He was taken to the hospital after the injury, but was seen before Monday’s game walking around in sweats.
“I would say this whole season so far, it’s been an adjustment. We’ve been adjusting with guys coming in and out and in and out of the lineup,” Saunders said. “We know what Pharrell brings in terms of physicality and what he brings in the paint. So we knew someone was gonna have to step up.”
Maryland was scoreless for the first two minutes before Coit knocked down a three 2 minutes in. The Terrapins started 1-of-6 from the field but settled in, knocking down four of their next six to lead 18-15 midway through the half.
But the Mountaineers stayed tight through consistent 3-point shooting, starting 5-of-8 from deep and accounting for 15 of their first 23 points.
Mount St. Mary’s got in foul trouble early, committing five in the first 6 minutes and finishing the first half with 12. Maryland only shot 35.7% in the opening session, but capitalized with an 80% mark and 16 points from the foul line. The Terrapins closed the half on a 16-7 run and a 40-32 lead.
Maryland’s post-halftime lead was a large as 13 points, 53-40, before a 13-1 Mount run in a matter of three minutes got it back in the game, with Coit and the Mountaineers trading 3-pointers in the waning minutes of regulation.
“There was every opportunity to just pack up and go home in Milwaukee [vs Marquette], and there were even more potential justifications for the same thing happening tonight. And I thought the group with very little experience together, and many of them only five games of experience in their life at this level, their rate of growth has been tremendous,” Williams said.
The victory was Maryland’s final home game until December. The Terrapins will head to Las Vegas next week to play UNLV and No. 13 Gonzaga in the 18-team Players Era tournament.
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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