Indianapolis — The Michigan Wolverines moved a step closer toward checking one of their season goals off the list.
After squandering a 15-point lead in the second half, No. 3 seed Michigan used a last-second layup by Tre Donaldson to dispatch No. 2 seed Maryland, 81-80, in Saturday’s Big Ten tournament semifinal at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The Wolverines will face No. 5 seed Wisconsin, a 77-74 winner over top-seeded Michigan State in the other semifinal, in the Big Ten tournament championship game at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
It’ll be Michigan’s first trip to the conference tournament title game since 2019 and a second chance to take home some hardware this season, after winning the Fort Myers Tip-Off in November.
Vlad Goldin had 25 points and 10 rebounds, Danny Wolf add 21 points and 14 rebounds and Donaldson scored 12, including the go-ahead bucket with less than a second remaining, for Michigan (24-9).
After closing the first half on a 7-0 run, the Wolverines picked up where they left off and scored the first 11 points out of the break. Goldin scored three times at the rim, including an alley-oop slam off a feed from Tre Donaldson. Rubin Jones and Goldin blocked shots on back-to-back defensive possessions.
By the time Wolf swished a 3-pointer to cap the 18-0 flurry bridging both halves, Michigan pulled ahead, 49-34, with 17:16 left in the second half.
BOX SCORE: Michigan 81, Maryland 80
Maryland turned up the pressure and put a serious dent in the deficit in the span of 80 seconds. A loose-ball foul on a rebound led to a second-chance bucket by Derick Queen, the Big Ten freshman of the year. A traveling violation on Wolf preceded a 3-pointer by Selton Miguel that capped a 10-0 burst and cut Michigan’s lead to 49-44.
The Wolverines kept sharing the ball and winning the battle in the paint, pushing the lead back to double figures. Wolf tipped in a missed layup by Roddy Gayle Jr. Donaldson found Will Tschetter for an open dunk. Michigan pushed the margin to 61-50 with 11:42 to go.
Things quickly went sideways, as Maryland pushed right back with a 14-0 run to take the lead. The Wolverines turned it over on three consecutive possessions, including two live-ball giveaways that the Terrapins turned into fast-break baskets, and missed seven straight shots. Queen fueled with charge with 10 points to Maryland in front, 64-61, at the 7:48 mark.
Michigan didn’t fold and regained the lead four times down the stretch. After Goldin ended a string of 10 consecutive missed shots and a seven-minute field-goal drought with a bucket at the rim, he drained a 3-pointer to give the Wolverines a 74-71 edge with 3:59 to play.
After Maryland pulled even twice, the last on a layup by Queen with 43 seconds left, Donaldson gave Michigan the lead with a 3-pointer to make it 79-76 with 28 seconds to go.
That set that stage for another nail-biting finish. Julian Reese scored a bucket at the rim to cut it to 79-78. Wolf was fouled with 12 seconds left and missed the front end of a one-and-one, leaving the door open for the Terrapins.
Coming out of a timeout with seven seconds left, Rubin Jones was whistled for a foul on Queen out on the perimeter on an inbounds pass. Queen made both free throws to put Maryland up 80-79 with 5 seconds left.
But the lead didn’t last long, as Donaldson received the inbounds pass and raced the other way for the winning layup with 0.4 seconds left.
Queen, the Big Ten freshman of the year, finished with 31 points and Miguel scored 16 for Maryland (25-8).
It was a mixed bag for the Wolverines during a back-and-forth first half where they dominated in the paint and on the boards but issues with turnovers resurfaced. After committing a season-low six turnovers in Friday’s quarterfinal win, Michigan turned it over three times in the span of four possessions early on.
A strong start on the glass on both ends and 10 quick points from Nimari Burnett (10 points) and Donaldson combined helped make up for the early hiccups, as Michigan took a 12-10 lead with 15:12 left in the first half.
Queen did a little bit of everything for Maryland in the early going. He got to the basket off a shot fake. He knocked down a 3-pointer. He bullied his way in the paint and drew fouls.
A combination of Queen and more giveaways led to Michigan falling behind. The Terrapins turned a live-ball turnover on a bad pass by Jones into a 3-pointer by Miguel in transition for a 23-16 lead midway through the first half.
The teams continued to trade runs into halftime. Michigan responded with a 13-2 spurt that ended with a sequence where Queen grabbed an offensive rebound and Donaldson stripped the ball and saved it from going out of bounds. That created a fast-break opportunity that Burnett capped with a layup to make it 29-25 and force a Maryland timeout.
After the Terrapins answered with a string of seven unanswered points to regain a two-point edge, the Wolverines closed the half on a 7-0 run. Gayle snapped a 13-game, 0-for-18 drought from 3-point range with a deep ball and threw down an alley-oop feed from Donaldson to give Michigan a 38-34 lead at the break.
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