Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer, March 20, 2015

Melo Trimble and Dez Wells each scored 14 points as Maryland held off Valparaiso 65-62 on Friday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart offers his rapid reaction.

The star: Melo Trimble was outstanding, registering a double-double. The freshman point man had 14 points and 10 rebounds while also dishing three assists and two steals.

The stat: All season long, the Terrapins thrived at the free-throw line. And that continued today. Maryland hit 18-of-24 shots from the charity stripe (75.0 percent). Conversely, Valpo hit just 10-of-18 free-throw attempts (55.6 percent). And that negated the Crusaders? 46.2 percent shooting from 3-point land.

The key to victory: Maryland got 25 points from its bench, which was huge. The big contributor was Jared Nickens, who tallied 14 points and hit 4-of-7 3-point shots. The Crusaders had just 10 points off the pine.

It was over when: Maryland?s biggest lead was nine points; Valpo?s was six. There were two lead changes. And the game was tied, 49-49, with just over six minutes left. But Maryland asserted itself down the stretch. Valpo had a chance to tie the game and force overtime at the end of regulation with a 3-pointer, but Maryland's Varun Ram stripped the ball from the Crusaders' Keith Carter and the Terps recovered the loose ball to seal the victory.

What?s next: No.4 Maryland will take on No. 5 West Virginia, which beat No. 12 Buffalo in its first game. If the Terps win, they will advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2003 as Maryland has lost its last three Round of 32 games.

Notable: This was the 11th time in a row that Maryland won its first NCAA game. The last time the Terps lost their opener was in 1997.

About Tom Dienhart BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart is a veteran sports journalist who covers Big Ten football and men's basketball for BTN.com and BTN TV. Find him on Twitter and Facebook, read all of his work at btn.com/tomdienhart, and subscribe to his posts via RSS. Also, send questions to his weekly mailbag using the form below and read all of his previous answers in his reader mailbag section.

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