Maryland men’s basketball’s stay in the national rankings might be short-lived.

Three days after earning the No. 18 spot in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, the Terps wasted a 17-point lead in the first half and watched helplessly as Bruce Thornton and host Ohio State rallied for a 73-70 win Thursday night before an announced 10,155 at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

Thornton led the Buckeyes (14-9, 6-6 Big Ten) with a game-high 31 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer off the glass with 7.4 seconds left in the second half.

The junior point guard also amassed six assists, five rebounds, and three steals, and fifth-year senior shooting guard Micah Parrish had 13 points and six rebounds to pace Ohio State to its fourth victory in five games. The team also avenged an 83-59 walloping by the Terps on Dec. 4 and won for the third time in the past four meetings.

Playing for the first time in eight days since toppling then-No. 17 Wisconsin, 76-68, on Jan. 29 that contributed to its first appearance in the poll this season, Maryland (17-6, 7-5) squandered a four-game winning streak and suffered its first setback since a 76-74 result in overtime at Northwestern on Jan. 16. The team also failed to catch up to the Badgers (18-5, 8-4) and UCLA (17-6, 8-4) for fourth place in the conference, which is significant because that position would yield the No. 4 seed and a coveted double bye to the quarterfinals in the Big Ten Tournament.

The Terps had entered the AP poll for the first time since Feb. 27, 2023, when that squad was ranked No. 21. The No. 18 spot also marked the program’s highest since Dec. 11, 2022, when it was No. 13 in the country.

Maryland slid to 2-5 in road games this winter. The team had won at then-No. 17 Illinois and Indiana last month after opening the season with four consecutive losses.

The Terps fell short of stringing together their longest road winning streak since 2020 when that squad triumphed in four consecutive games: at Northwestern, 77-66, on Jan. 21, Indiana, 77-76, on Jan. 26, Illinois, 75-66, on Feb. 7, and Michigan State, 67-60, on Feb. 15. That run was part of a larger nine-game winning streak.

Senior power forward Julian Reese collected his 10th double-double of the season on team highs in points (24) and rebounds (13) and blocked two shots, and sophomore shooting guard Rodney Rice finished with 18 points, three assists and three rebounds. Freshman center Derik Queen chipped in 13 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two blocks, but their efforts weren’t enough to send Maryland to its first regular-season sweep of the Buckeyes since 2019 when that squad won, 75-61, on Jan. 18 and 72-62 on Feb. 23.

Here are three observations from Thursday night’s outcome.

Maryland’s fast start was undone by missed free throws: The Terps hadn’t hurt themselves at the free-throw line — until this game. In a contest decided by a possession, Maryland will rue failing to convert 9 of 30 free throw attempts. Queen missed 6 of 13, graduate student small forward Selton Miguel whiffed on his only two attempts and Reese missed 1 of 11.

Those wasted opportunities appear even more glaring in a second half in which Ohio State outscored the Terps, 41-29. After converting 16 of 27 of its shots (59.3%) in the first half, Maryland made just 7 of 28 attempts (25%) in the second in which the offense was mired in droughts of 3:56 and 2:11.

Meanwhile, the Buckeyes capitalized on their trips to the free-throw line. They sank 15 of 18 free throws (83.3%), including 12 of 14 (85.7%) in the first half.

“We had three or four fouls at the end of the first half that were just bonehead mistakes,” Terps coach Kevin Willard told the Maryland Radio Network. “We talked about how good of a free throw-shooting team they are, especially their guards, and it just gave them a chance to set up their defense and get a little bit more physical on the defensive end, which they weren’t able to do early in the game. And it just gave them a little momentum going into the second half.”

The second half was a stark contrast from a strong start by Maryland. Although not as overwhelming as the 50-17 score at halftime in the first meeting on Dec. 4, the team carried a 41-32 advantage into intermission.

The Terps scored the game’s first eight points and connected on their first five shots from the floor for a 10-2 lead. A 12-3 run earned a 29-15 advantage midway through the first half, and an 8-2 burst propelled them to a 39-22 gap, which was its largest of the period.

But it all went for naught in the second half.

The defense looked solid in the first half before faltering in the second: As poorly as the offense performed in the second half, the same could be said for the defense.

In the first half, Maryland limited Ohio State to 36% shooting (9 of 25) and 28.6% 3-point efficiency (2 of 7). Twelve of the Buckeyes’ 32 points came from the free-throw line.

It was a much different story in the second half as the Terps generously allowed Ohio State to convert 52.9% (18 of 34) of its attempts. Although the Buckeyes continued to struggle from deep and made just 22.2% (2 of 9) from 3-point range, they outscored Maryland, 26-10, in the paint in the latter frame as they frequently pierced the interior defense for layups, dunks and short-range jumpers.

The Terps had few answers for Thornton. He erupted for 21 points in the second half on 8 of 11 shooting and nailed both of Ohio State’s 3-pointers.

Thornton singlehandedly outscored Maryland, 17-9, in the final 6:59 of the game. Willard didn’t seem to regret the team’s defense against Thornton, but gave him credit for a superhuman performance.

“I thought we did a really good job for the most part,” Willard said. “Even when he made a couple of the tough twos, we were OK with that. We were still up six, up eight, we were getting into the lane. It’s just that we lost him, and he hit a big 3. Then obviously, I thought our defense at the end was really good. We switched out, we covered everything. He hit a tough shot.”

Thornton’s last heave banked off the glass and succeeded despite relentless man-to-man defense by Rice.

Unfortunately, that might be of little regard after the disappointing loss.

Maryland’s frontcourt couldn’t cover for a quiet evening from the backcourt: Foul trouble prevented junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie (six points) from reaching double digits in points for the ninth consecutive start. (The offense dropped a gear or two when Gillespie was assessed his second foul of the first half at the 6:42 mark and was pulled from the game.) And graduate student small forward Selton Miguel lacked his usual accuracy and converted just 3 of 9 shots for seven points.

Rice led the backcourt by making two of the Terps’ three 3-pointers of the game. He scored double figures for the sixth time in his last seven starts, but the team’s inaccuracy from beyond the perimeter matched its second-lowest total of the season.

Reese, the Randallstown native and St. Frances graduate, and Queen, a Baltimore resident, did what they could for the Terps. They accrued 10 points or more in the same game for the 11th time this season and often provided key, nerve-settling buckets when the team needed them most.

Much of Maryland’s firepower was rooted in Reese, who reached double figures in the opening frame for the 10th time this season. He drained all five of his shots, nailed all four of his free throws to account for 14 points, and accumulated four rebounds and one block.

Ultimately, however, Reese and Queen could not carry the Terps over the finish line.

Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at eklee@ baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.