SEATTLE — The clock has struck midnight for Colorado State.

For 6.1 seconds, the Rams were America’s team. After Jalen Lake’s 3-pointer gave the Rams a 71-70 lead in the final seconds, future NBA lottery pick Derik Queen banked in a shot at the buzzer to give No. 4 seed Maryland a 72-71 win in arguably the best game of the tournament so far on Sunday evening at Climate Pledge Arena.

Sometimes, one magical March Madness shot cancels out another.

“I asked the guys, I said, ‘Who wants the ball?’ Terrapins coach Kevin Willard said. “Because sometimes you can draw something up for a guy that maybe doesn’t want the basketball, and his exact words, ‘I want the M-F ball.’

“So once he said that, it was a pretty simple decision and I could see everyone’s body language kind of perk up a little bit because he was so confident in the fact that he wanted the basketball. So it was just a simple zipper, give him the basketball and let him go to work.”

Maryland moves on to play No. 1 seed Florida in the Sweet 16 next weekend in San Francisco.

The Rams went down swinging with their best defender, Ethan Morton, guarding Queen and Niko Medved has zero regrets.

“He just caught it and put his head down on an iso,” Medved said. “I mean, I thought we extended the catch outside the three, he caught it and drove it, he was driving left, I thought we angled him off, forced him going left off the wrong foot, step back from whatever it was, (and he) made it.

“It’s a heck of a shot. I don’t really know what else you do to defend that. Hindsight’s 20/20, if you knew exactly what it was going to be we would have done something. But again, I had no beef (with( how we defended that. He just made a great shot.”

In an epic game, that one shot is all just about anyone is going to remember. But not Medved. He and his team went down swinging with a chance to advance to the Sweet 16 for just the second time in program history.

“I thought we did just about everything right in this game,” Medved said. “It was an unbelievable college basketball game. Both teams going at it, trying to fight to go to the Sweet 16. These guys made a lot of plays. I thought we defended that last play pretty well. It’s about all we could ask for, and he made a freaking unbelievable shot. That’s what happens in March Madness and sometimes you’re on their side of it and sometimes your on ours.”

The Rams out-rebounded an objectively bigger Maryland team by 10, scored more points in the paint, get better production from the bench and led for over 75% of the game. If there’s one thing they’ll point to, it’s a couple of open shots in the second half.

CSU held a 37-30 halftime lead but couldn’t buy a 3-pointer in the final 20 minutes, going 2-for-12 from beyond the arc while the Terps went 6-for-13 from 3-point range on the way to putting up 42 points in the second half.

But none of that will probably matter to anyone on the Rams or anyone back in Fort Collins, frankly. Not even what, by the letter of the law, should’ve been a travel call on Queen’s game-winner.

“Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. But it doesn’t matter, they didn’t call one,” Medved said. “So whether it was or wasn’t, they didn’t call one and they never go back and change the call. But again, he made a really difficult shot. I mean, he made a really, really difficult shot and they just made one more play than we did.”

GAME RECAP

No. 4 Maryland 72, No. 12 Colorado State 71

What happened: The Rams (26-10) had their magic run end in the second round of the NCAA Tournament as the Terrapins (27-8) advance to the Sweet 16 thanks to freshman big man Derik Queen’s buzzer-beating shot off the glass that canceled out Jalen Lake’s go-ahead 3-pointer for CSU with 6.1 seconds left.

Star of the night: Nique Clifford ends his college career and record-setting final season with one of his best performance, scoring a game-high 21 points (7-for-17 on FGs, 7-8 free throws) to go with seven rebounds and six assists. He set the program’s single-season scoring record in the game.

Quotable: “I think by the end of this season here, we were pretty dang good. I think we proved that every night. We out-rebounded this team by 10. We fought, we moved the ball. Maybe just a couple more shots, right, go in (and we win). I’m not surprised that we battled the way we did. I believed we were going to win and those guys did too, and that’s the way that they played. But, unfortunately that’s the way it goes sometimes.” — Rams coach Niko Medved

Up next: An interesting offseason begins for CSU, who may finally lose Medved after a seven-year run that includes three trips to March Madness in the last four seasons. Medved’s alma mater, Minnesota, currently has an opening.