Ann Arbor — The Wolverines entered the final week of the regular season with their sights set on earning at least a share of the Big Ten championship.

Those banner dreams took a big blow in Wednesday’s home finale at Crisler Center.

No. 17 Michigan made a second-half charge but couldn’t complete a comeback and overcome a mountain of mistakes in a 71-65 loss to No. 13 Maryland that left its title hopes hanging by a thread.

“The last couple (games) we haven't performed at the level that we’d like, but this is part of it,” Michigan coach Dusty May said. “We'd love to be riding a wave of success right now, but we've got to figure some things out.

“When you're not finishing, you're turning it over and you're not shooting well from 3, you’ve got to figure out other ways. Credit our guys. They fought like crazy and dug in and tried to win an ugly one, and we just came up short.”

Vlad Goldin had 20 points and 15 rebounds and Danny Wolf scored 20, but 16 turnovers — several coming at crucial moments — and a late five-minute scoring drought proved insurmountable for the Wolverines (22-8, 14-5 Big Ten), who have lost three of their last five games.

Michigan trailed by as much as 12 in the second half and was down 50-39 with 12:14 to play before it rallied and made it a one-possession game on several occasions.

Tre Donaldson (10 points) canned a deep 3-pointer after coming away with a steal. Wolf threw down one-handed jam on a fast break. The crowd roared to life as another fast-break dunk, this time by Roddy Gayle Jr., capped a 13-4 run and cut Maryland’s lead to 54-52 with 9:03 to go.

Rodney Rice kept the Wolverines at bay with a pair of momentum-killing jumpers before Wolf made a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 59-57 with 6:51 to go. That’s when Michigan squandered one opportunity after another to pull even.

On Michigan’s ensuing possession, Donaldson and Wolf weren’t on the same page on a pass, leading to a turnover on a backcourt violation. On Michigan’s next trip down, Wolf missed two free throws.

Not long after that, the Wolverines turned it over on three straight possessions. The first two were on passes by Donaldson and Wolf that were deflected and stolen by Maryland’s Julian Reese. The last one came when Reese ripped the ball away from Goldin in the paint.

“I thought we got excited,” May said. “We were playing well, and we were right on the cusp. At that point, I thought we just tried to just do a little bit too much. It wasn't selfishness; it was from a good place of trying to win that possession.

“We don't have the margin right now to be able to do that. When you're making shots, you have the margin to turn it over. Now, with us not shooting as well as we're capable of, we don't have the margin for the turnovers.”

Maryland (23-7, 13-6) widened the margin to 65-57 with 2:33 to play, as Michigan went over five minutes without scoring. The Wolverines couldn’t get any closer than four the rest of the way, with the Terrapins making six free throws in the final 1:07 to seal it.

Rice scored 19, and Selton Miguel and Derik Queen added 17 each for Maryland, which outscored Michigan 38-18 in points off turnovers (21) and second-chance opportunities (17).

“We had too many careless turnovers where we try a one-handed pass or try to catch the ball with one hand,” Goldin said. “We have to be better at controlling what we can control. It’s so hard to win when you lose the ball 16 times, and you put yourself in a position that you shoot less shots than the opposite team. That’s not good.”

After dropping back-to-back games for the first time since December and losing at home for the third time in 13 days, Michigan is in a position where it needs help to capture a piece of the conference crown.

The only path is if Michigan State loses its last two games — Thursday at Iowa and Sunday in the rivalry rematch with Michigan in East Lansing. The Spartans, who hold a 1½-game lead in the standings, earned at least a share of the title with Michigan’s loss and can win it outright with one victory.

“You can say it’s the wrong time of the year (for a slide) when we’re in the hunt for a Big Ten championship. At this point, we need a few things to happen,” Wolf said.

“If Iowa wins then we’re going to be right back where we were. We’re going to be able to go into the Breslin (Center) and compete.”

The Wolverines trailed 33-22 at halftime and got off to a poor start out of the break. They turned the ball over four times in five possessions, all on bad passes. Wolf committed three of those, with one leading to a runout layup by Miguel and another ending with Queen splitting free throws after being fouled to make it 38-26.

Michigan kept feeding Goldin in the post to chip away at the deficit. He scored three times at the rim and scored eight straight for the Wolverines. A Donaldson steal and a fast-break layup by LJ Cason cut it to 44-39, forcing a Maryland timeout.

On Maryland’s ensuing out-of-bounds play, Ja’kobi Gillespie drilled a 3-pointer. Another Michigan turnover led to another Maryland 3-pointer. In the blink of an eye, the Terrapins pushed the margin back to double digits, 50-39, and put the Wolverines’ title dreams in a precarious spot.

“We're big, big Hawkeye fans in the meantime. But most importantly, we need to get back to playing good team basketball. We need to be more connected as a group,” May said. “All of us in that locker room that have been on different teams, every championship-caliber team that we've been on, we've went through a stretch like this.

“The best ones, they fight through it and they become closer. They work with more unity. All the others just kind of splinter and point fingers and blame. This is a big test for us. This is the most adversity this group has faced. We'll learn a lot about ourselves here these next few weeks.”

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