Knotting the score at four in the third period of the last bout of the night Saturday, Duke's 125-pound Kellan McKeon forced Maryland's James Knox to battle through two overtime periods before ultimately falling 6-5 to the Terrapin grappler on a major decision.
McKeon's performance was indicative of the Blue Devils' weekend.
Wrestling with injury problems, Duke (7-5, 0-2 in the ACC) put up a strong effort against a solid Maryland squad, but finished short in the end, as the Terrapins (14-5, 4-0) secured a 27-13 match victory in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Entering into their match against the top team in the ACC, the Blue Devils were forced to tweak their lineup as starters Aaron Glover, Dan Fox, Addison Nuding and Dan Tulley were all inactive.
Duke came out strong to start the night, winning four of the first five matches.
Freshman Spencer Jasper won with a commanding 15-5 major decision at 133 pounds, while 141-pound Wes Kuser finished victorious, 10-7.
Senior Daniel Shvartsman inched ahead with a takedown in the third period to seal an exciting 7-6 win and extend his win streak to five.
In his first dual meet as a Blue Devil, redshirt freshman Ben Wales secured a 7-3 win at 165 pounds to put Duke up 13-3.
The Terrapins, however, swung the momentum in their favor and finished the meet without losing another match.
With two top-20 wrestlers, Maryland picked up two wins as No. 11 Mike Letts and No. 19 Hudson Taylor defeated Duke's Matthew Koelling and Patrick Keenum, respectively.
Duke's John Barone suffered a pin at 184 pounds, heavyweight Mike Tunick lost on a 15-4 major decision, and McKeon's 6-5 loss closed the match out for the Terps.
Wales, Barone and Koelling all wrestled up in a higher weight class in the dual meet this weekend.
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