JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Belmont proved it belonged, but Maryland is moving on.
The Terrapins avoided a last-second upset in the opening round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament when Eric Ayala deflected a pass, leading to a steal by Darryl Morsell that allowed Maryland to escape with a 79-77 victory Thursday afternoon in the East Region.
Playing their second tournament game in less than 48 hours, the 11th-seeded Bruins shook off weary legs to justify the selection committee giving the Nashville program one of the final at-large bids. Belmont took Maryland to the final seconds, but the sixth-seeded Terrapins came up with the winning stop at the end.
"If not for one little deflection, I think we'd be playing Saturday afternoon," said Belmont coach Rick Byrd, who has 805 wins in a career that also includes stints at Maryville College and Lincoln Memorial.
Instead, Maryland (23-10) will take on third-seeded LSU (27-6) - a 79-74 winner against 14th-seeded Yale (22-8) on Thursday - in the second round.
"Is my heart rate like I'm sleeping? No!" Terrapins coach Mark Turgeon said. "I just love it. So much fun."
Dylan Windler scored 35 points, making seven 3-pointers, to give Belmont (26-6) a chance.
"They're almost impossible to guard," Turgeon said, with plenty of admiration in his voice for the Bruins, who lost the Ohio Valley Conference tournament title game to Murray State.
Maryland was clinging to a one-point lead and the shot clock was off as Belmont went for a buzzer-beating win. The Bruins didn't bother calling a timeout to set anything up. They knew what they wanted to do - make a backdoor pass to Windler, a play that had been one of their bread-and-butter calls all afternoon.
Ayala got a hand on the pass from freshman Grayson Murphy, though, and Morsell stepped in front of Windler to pick off the ball, with the Belmont star tumbling to the court behind him. Morsell was fouled with 2.5 seconds to go, sending him to the other end of the court for a pair of free throws.
"Coaches were screaming, 'Back door!'" Morsell said. "Eric got his hand on the ball."
Morsell made the first free throw and missed the second, forcing Windler to heave a desperation shot from midcourt that didn't come close to hitting the rim. That set off a relieved celebration from the Maryland contingent.
Windler sank to the court, thoroughly exhausted after playing all but 88 seconds of Thursday's on the heels of an 81-70 victory over Temple in a First Four play-in game late Tuesday night - the first NCAA tournament victory in Belmont history.
Jalen Smith led four Maryland scorers in double figures with 19 points, including a huge three-point play with 1:41 remaining. Belmont appeared to get a crucial stop when Nick Muszynski swatted away a shot by Bruno Fernando, setting off a wild scramble that left four players - three from Belmont, one from Maryland - sprawled on the floor.
Morsell came up with the loose ball and fed it to Smith under the basket for a thunderous dunk that also drew a foul. Smith knocked down the free throw, putting the Terps ahead 77-73.
Belmont led by 12 points during the first half and went to the break with a 40-34 lead, but Maryland returned from the locker room intent on putting its size advantage to good use. The Terrapins began pounding the ball inside for easy baskets, or popping it back outside for open jumpers when the Bruins attempted to double-team the Maryland big men - and it resulted in a 14-0 run to start the half.
Said Byrd: "We let them come out in the second half and run loose on us."
Bracket for the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.