West Virginia Mountaineers prevail 69-59.
AB Wire
WASHINGTON, DC: Indian American Varun Ram’s NCAA dream ended Sunday night, as his Maryland Terrapins lost to West Virginia in Round Two in Columbus, OH, Sunday night, 69-59.
Ram, who had made a crucial defensive stop, coming off the bench with just 13 seconds to go against Valparaiso in the first round, scored 2 points in two minutes. He also had one turnover.
The 22-year-old entered game for the first time with 8:25 to go in the second half, when the Terps’ star point guard Melo Trimble was injured, trying an extravagant block. The Mountaineers had a comfortable lead, 53-46, at that point.
He made two free throws immediately, but was not much of factor after that.
Maryland, a No. 4 seed, was trying to reach Sweet 16 for the first time since 2003. But they were hampered by turnovers right from the beginning. In all, Terps turned the ball over 22 times, 13 times in the second half. West Virginia had by 1 at half time.
Ram’s heroic against Valparaiso had the national media shining spotlight on the Clarksville, MD, native, who made the team as a walk-on. The past 48 hours saw a flood of stories on him from newspapers ranging from the Washington Post and Washington Times to New York Post to The Guardian of London.
It is not clear the 5’9” guard, who is known for his stellar defensive plays, will be back next year.
Ram is only one of the five Indian American players that played Division I this year.