BB&T: Dez Wells leads Maryland past George Mason, 69-62 The sophomore swingman set a career-high in points for the second straight game, finishing with 25 points on 11 of 17 shooting to navigate Maryland through stormy waters at Sunday's BB&T Classic and onto a 69-62 win over George Mason. The Raleigh native and Xavier transfer carried the Terps until a host of teammates found their groove down the stretch, escaping with their sixth straight win since the season-opening loss at Kentucky. Clinging to a 47-45 lead after Wells's 11th field goal, the Terrapins turned to their other starters, getting six points from James Padgett, six from Nick Faust, four from Alex Len and two from Pe'Shon Howard to inch away. Twelve of those 16 points came from the free-throw line as Maryland crawled towards a 65-56 lead with less than three minutes left. Trading baskets throughout the second half, Maryland withstood a late George Mason rally that cut the margin to 65-60 after two Sherrod Wright free throws and a slicing layup from Jonathan Arledge in transition. Given a chance to ice the game with one minute left, Faust rimmed out two free throws and Wells hit one of two seconds later. Had Wells not electrified the speckled Verizon Center crowd, though, points early would have been hard to come by early for the Terps. During media availability Saturday, Wells told reporters that he began watching YouTube videos of Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordon, zeroing in on the legends" defensive presence. "I want to step up and really establish myself as one of the best defenders in the country," Wells said then. Developing into an elite scorer will have to do for now. Wells became the first ACC player to notch 11 field goals in a single game. Often seen at the center of pregame huddles, pumping up his teammates like a bouncing bulls-eye of emotion, Wells scored Maryland's first eight points with a combination of levitating layups and pull-up jumpers. He was relatively silent from the field until a transition runner and a three-pointer gave the Terps a 34-30 lead entering halftime. Ten Maryland turnovers helped keep George Mason around despite a 31.3 shooting percentage from the Patriots, who got 23 combined points from Wright and Patrick Holloway by the break. Holloway and Wright combined for 34 points by the end for the Patriots, who dropped to 5-3. Down 23-16 after two Faust free throws, George Mason clawed back thanks to two Holloway three-pointers, chopping the lead to 30-31 on a baby hook from Johnny Williams, but a three-pointer from Wells, who dominated Northwestern in Tuesday's ACC/Big Ten Challenge with a then-career-high 23 points, gave the Terps some momentum heading into the second half. But out of the break, the Patriots responded with a 7-0 run, capped off by a three-pointer from Anali Okoloji that forced a Turgeon timeout to dissect George Mason's first lead of the afternoon, 37-34. The Patriots hung around until they began fouling, Maryland mustering just enough to avoid the local upset. Faust had 14 points while Len tacked on 12.