Northwestern was playing one of its best second halves this season, cutting a 12-point halftime deficit all the way down to 6 in the final minutes. And it was happening on the road at No. 7 Maryland –– the first place team in the Big Ten.

But for the Wildcats to get over that last hump and potentially win their first game in over a month, they’d need someone to step up down the stretch and play at an all-conference level.

Someone like Maryland’s stars, senior guard Anthony Cowan and sophomore center Jalen Smith.

NU didn’t have a Big Ten player of the year contender of its own to keep pace with Smith and Cowan late in the second half. And the Cats (6-19, 1-14 Big Ten) lost another close game, falling 76-67 to Maryland (22-4, 12-3).

Smith didn’t take long to take over for the Terrapins, and at the under-12 timeout he had more points than the entire NU team. As NU’s defense focused on Smith, Maryland hit three three-point shots in the last four minutes of the first half to build a 12-point lead at the break.

But like the Cats have almost all season, they kept it close in the second half. NU made nine baskets in the first eight minutes of the second half to get back in the game, and the Cats cut their deficit down to 6 points with fewer than five minutes left.

Then NU’s offense suffered a cold spell. The Cats scored just one field goal in a four minute stretch late in the second half, while Cowan and Smith carried the Terrapins past the finish line.

Smith finished with 22 points and 19 rebounds, and Cowan had 19 points and 5 assists. Freshman center Ryan Young scored 17 points for the Cats, but the team shot just 42.9 percent from the field and lost its tenth consecutive conference game.

1. NU’s offense in unpredictable

Heading into the season, sophomore forwards Miller Kopp and Pete Nance projected to be the team’s leading scorers. Heading into conference play, grad transfer guard Pat Spencer seemed to have taken control of the offense. Against Maryland on Tuesday, that trio combined for just 25 points.

Kopp –– NU’s best scorer this season –– was held scoreless in the first half on only two shots, and Spencer ceded the point-guard role to freshman guard Boo Buie. Buie scored 15 points, but he was one of the only Cats players who shot well from the field.

Nance struggled again from the field, finishing with 5 points. He finished in single digits for the sixth time in seven games.

2. Ryan Young had the best Big Ten game of his career

In a league with some of the best post players in the country, NU has heaped responsibility on Young’s shoulders this season. Despite playing 26 minutes a night as the Cats’ starting center, Young has lost most of his one-on-one matchups this season.

Young didn’t outplay Smith, but he had his best game in conference play. The freshman was in double figures against a Big Ten for the second time in his career, and some of NU’s best offense came from giving Young the ball in the post.

3. There would be no standings-shaking upset.

NU entered the game as the last place team in the Big Ten, and Maryland entered the game at the top of the conference standings. The Cats hadn’t won a conference road game all season, and Maryland hasn’t lost this year in College Park. None of that changed Tuesday.

NU continued its long losing streak and missed another chance to climb out of the basement in the Big Ten conference standings. The Cats return to Welsh-Ryan Arena on Sunday to face 11th-place Minnesota, and another loss for NU would mean the longest losing streak of the Chris Collins-era.