Nick Martinelli made a baseline jumper just before the overtime buzzer to help Northwestern snap a three-game losing streak with a 76-74 victory over Maryland on Thursday night at Welsh–Ryan Arena in Evanston.

Northwestern led 64-56 with 4:43 left in regulation before Maryland closed on an 11-2 run, capped by Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s layup with 6.9 seconds left to tie it at 68-all. Northwestern guard Brooks Barnhizer had a layup hit off the back iron at the other end and Derik Queen secured the defensive rebound.

In overtime, Gillespie made a layup with 6.9 seconds left to tie it at 74-all and he poked it away from Ty Berry at the other end. The ball deflected off Maryland forward Julian Reese, giving Northwestern possession with 0.7 seconds left.

Martinelli broke free on a screen and sank a runner in front of the Northwestern bench as his teammates came onto the court to celebrate.

Martinelli finished with 22 points for Northwestern (11-6, 2-4 Big Ten). Barnhizer had 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, and Berry scored 15.

Reese led Maryland (13-5, 3-4) with 23 points. Gillespie added 14, Rodney Rice had 13 and Queen grabbed 14 rebounds to go with nine points. The Terrapins were hurt by 16 turnovers.

There were 11 lead changes and nine ties in the first half that ended with Northwestern leading 38-37 after Martinelli beat the buzzer with a shot in the lane. The game finished with 16 ties and 15 lead changes.

Former Maryland star quarterback Boomer Esiason hasn’t been shy to voice his opinions if he believes he’s right — especially about his alma mater. He starred at Maryland from 1979-83 and set 17 school records. He knows a thing or two about having success in college and Esiason isn’t having it that Mike Locksley interviewed for the New York Jets’ head coaching job.

On his morning show, he slammed the Maryland head coach. Esiason believes the Jets interviewed Locksley as a favor to his agent and the Jets likely don’t have any interest in Locksley as their head coach.

“I think one of the reasons Mike Locksley, the head coach at the University of Maryland, got an interview was because that was a favor for the agent. And probably a little bit of a favor for Mike to show the University of Maryland that Mike, you know, could leave at any time. And I’m sure Mike’s feeling a lot of pressure because it hasn’t gone well for the University of Maryland football team over the last three to four years now,” Esiason said on Boomer and Gio, his show on New York sports radio station WFAN.

Locksley has gone 33-41 as the head man at Maryland and the Terrapins are coming off of a 4-8 season. While Locksley hasn’t done a bad job with Maryland, it’s never going to be easy to compete in the Big Ten against Michigan, Ohio State, or Oregon. The NIL era is upon us and those colleges are going to do a better job recruiting year-in and year-out.

“I don’t suspect that it’s going to get any better. He can recruit as much as he wants, but his team becomes a development ground for Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama, LSU, teams that have a lot more money, although supposedly they’ll have the same amount of money and be able to share it with their athletes moving forward because of that lawsuit that finally came to an end.”

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