Braden Smith powers No. 8 Purdue past Maryland

Braden Smith paired 24 points with 10 assists on Sunday to help No. 8 Purdue fend off visiting Maryland 83-78 in Big Ten play in West Lafayette, Ind.Smith led the Boilermakers with five 3-pointers and made 4 of 5 in the second half to help Purdue (8-2, 1-1 Big Ten) pick up its first conference win after losing 81-70 at Penn State on Thursday.Trey Kaufman-Renn added 21 points with eight rebounds, Camden Heide netted 15 points and Fletcher Loyer scored 12 to go along with seven rebounds for the Boilermakers.Derik Queen bundled 26 points and 12 rebounds — both game-highs — and Ja’Kobi Gillespie added 18 points for the Terrapins (8-2, 1-1). Maryland had won five straight, including an 83-59 home rout of Ohio State on Wednesday.Kaufman-Renn and Smith engineered a 10-0 run that put the Boilermakers ahead for good after Maryland took a five-point lead with 8:25 left.The surge started with Kaufman-Renn, who scored on three straight possessions to swing the hosts ahead 63-62. Smith added a free throw and punctuated the run with a transition triple for a 67-62 lead with 5:21 remaining.The Terrapins twice got within a possession before Smith buried his fifth three of the game to make it 72-67. Heide drilled a corner trey for an eight-point lead, and Smith followed with a layup to give the Boilermakers their first double-digit advantage of the game with two minutes to go.Maryland never got closer than four the rest of the way.