Box Score Butler suffered its first loss of the season, falling 79-65 Wednesday night at Maryland as part of the Gavitt Tipoff Games. The Bulldogs are now 2-1 on the season, while Maryland improves to 3-0.

Sean McDermott led the Bulldogs with a career-high 17 points.

After two Aaron Thompson free throws trimmed the Terrapins' lead to 61-56 with 6:40 to play, the home team responded with five straight points to push the lead back to double digits and force a Butler timeout. The lead would remain at 10+ for the final five minutes of the game.

Maryland shot 57 percent, including 9-of-20 from behind the arc. Anthony Cowan, Jr., had a game-high 25 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Maryland had a 40-27 advantage on the boards Wednesday night.

"Our effort was clearly there, but our execution needs to be better," said Butler coach LaVall Jordan. "In the first half, we couldn't stop them, but when we did, we were able to convert. In the second half, we did better on the defensive end, but didn't make great decisions offensively and got stagnant. We'll learn from this and be better next time out."

Butler shot 34 percent in the contest.

Kamar Baldwin had 15 points for the Bulldogs before fouling out. Kelan Martin added 12, while Thompson had a career-high six assists.

Darryl Morsell had 13 points for Maryland, and the Terrapins got 11 from Dion Wiley. Maryland was able to overcome 20 turnovers.

Maryland shot 71 percent in the first half, taking a 42-35 lead into the locker rooms. That halftime lead was fueled by a 17-2 run to turn a three-point deficit into a 32-20 lead. Butler scored the next six points to climb back in the contest, overcoming a 19-8 rebounding edge for the home team in the opening 20 minutes.

The Bulldogs return to action Saturday at Hinkle Fieldhouse, hosting Furman in a 2 p.m. game. Tickets are still available for the return of Tyler Lewis as the former Butler point guard is part of the Furman coaching staff this season. The game will air nationally on FS2. Part of the Phil Knight Invitational, Saturday's game leads into the Bulldogs' trip to Portland, Ore., for the PK80 event over Thanksgiving.