COLLEGE PARK — Maryland men’s basketball beat the snow and a potential upset.

As a winter storm began to pepper the Baltimore-Washington corridor with a few inches of snow, the Terps pulled off a similar strategy and used their prowess from 3-point range to outlast visiting Nebraska, 69-66, on Sunday afternoon before an announced 11,069 at Xfinity Center.

The trio of Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Selton Miguel and Rodney Rice connected on 10 3-pointers, nearly doubling the six the Cornhuskers had. The 10 3-pointers marked Maryland’s first double-digit total since the offense had 12 in an 87-60 thrashing of Syracuse on Dec. 21 — a stretch of seven games.

“We needed that win,” Miguel said. “We were just getting back from a tough loss. Each and every day is a different guy. Ja’Kobi is playing really good right now for us, really helping us each and every day. So we just came together. We really needed this win at home.”

But for the third game in a row and second at home, the Terps (14-5, 4-4 Big Ten) played down to the level of competition. After trailing Minnesota, 35-32, at halftime before rallying for a 77-71 victory Monday and then getting ambushed by Northwestern in a 76-74 overtime loss Thursday, they needed a first half-closing flurry to take a 37-35 lead into the break and then had to hold off a Cornhuskers team that had lost its past three games.

Maryland owned a 66-57 lead with less than four minutes to go before Nebraska scored nine unanswered points to knot the score at 66 with 1:02 remaining. Gillespie answered with a layup with 40 seconds left, and then senior power forward Julian Reese made a steal.

On the ensuing possession, Rice was fouled and converted the first of two free throws with 22 seconds to go. Cornhuskers junior shooting guard Connor Essegian missed an off-balance 3-point attempt from the top of the key, and fifth-year senior small forward Jordan Geronimo grabbed the rebound with 1.8 seconds remaining.

Geronimo missed the front end of a one-and-one, but there wasn’t enough time for Nebraska to set up for a game-tying shot.

Coach Kevin Willard noted that because of the team’s return Friday morning from Evanston, Illinois, after the game at Northwestern, he had to give the players Friday off before getting one day of preparation Saturday.

“Understanding that they were going to be a little sluggish, sometimes you’ve got to trust your team that they’re going to figure it out and bring some energy, and I think they did,” he said.

Maryland was sparked by Gillespie, the junior point guard who scored a game-high 22 points and accumulated five assists and four steals. His final bucket in the first half — a 3-pointer with three seconds remaining — gave him 13 points, which helped him reach the 1,000-point milestone in his career. He currently has 1,009.

Miguel, a fifth-year senior small forward, scored seven of his 13 points in the second half and added three assists, and Rice, a sophomore shooting guard, scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half and compiled two rebounds and two assists. The threesome helped offset quiet showings by Reese, a Randallstown native and St. Frances graduate who had eight points, 10 rebounds, four blocks and two steals, and freshman center Derik Queen, who finished with many turnovers (three) as points (three) and seven rebounds.

Reese and Queen, Maryland’s catalysts in the frontcourt, combined for less than 20 points for only the second time this season as they totaled 17 points in an 86-52 victory over Mount St. Mary’s on Nov. 8. Their lack of punch helped explain how Nebraska outscored the Terps, 32-24, in the paint.

Gillespie said the Cornhuskers’ attention to Queen and Reese helped open up opportunities for him, Rice and Miguel.

“We kind of had to because they were helping on Ju and Derik,” he said. “So I kept having to skip it to Rodney and Sel, and they were making plays.”

Senior power forward Andrew Morgan came off the bench to lead Nebraska (12-6, 2-5) with 17 points, including 12 in the first half, and five rebounds, and he did most of his damage while being guarded by Queen. Senior shooting guard Brice Williams chipped in 14 points, four rebounds and three assists, but his scoring total fell well short of the 18.9 points he had been averaging entering the game for the Cornhuskers, who have not won since upending then-No. 15 UCLA, 66-58, on Jan. 4.

Much like their last outing at home against the Golden Gophers, the Terps sprinted to sizable leads of 14-7 and 16-9 on Sunday. They were aided by Nebraska lumbering its way into a 2:48 drought.

But good times didn’t last as Morgan scored 10 of the Cornhuskers’ next 15 points to tie the score at 24 with 7:42 left in the first half. After Reese dropped in a layup, Nebraska scored seven unanswered points to enjoy its biggest lead of the game at 31-26 with 3:20 to go.

Thankfully for Maryland, Geronimo and Gillespie ignited the team. Geronimo made a putback layup off an offensive rebound, blocked a shot, and collected another board on the offensive glass, and Gillespie nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to send the Terps into halftime with the small cushion.

Of the Cornhuskers’ past four losses, two have been one-possession scores and another went into overtime. So coach Fred Hoiberg was encouraged by his team’s performance.

“We’re not about moral victories, but our guys gave us a chance to win because of effort, and they continue to go out there and battle,” he said. “If we play like that, we’re going to win a lot of games here the rest of the way. We’re going through a tough stretch now. We’re going through four in a row now that we lost. Most teams in this league go through some type of stretch like this, and we’ve got to respond.”

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