COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Freshman Justin Jackson is on a roll, and so is 17th-ranked Maryland.

However, when it came down to crunch time on Tuesday night at Value City Arena, Melo Trimble took charge, stepping up as he normally does with the game on the line to steer Maryland to its seventh consecutive victory, 77-71 over Ohio State.

Jackson scored a game-high 22 points, making 8 of 12 shots from the field and 4 of 7 from 3-point range, and had a game-high 12 rebounds. Trimble, averaging 16 points per game this season, finished with only 13 points but scored the final seven after Ohio State cut the lead to one.

Trimble drilled a 3-pointer with 2:02 left to extend Maryland's lead to four, nailed a jumper with 32 seconds to go and closed out the game by making two free throws with 13 seconds remaining.

"I just felt like he was ready to do it," Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said. "The 3 was huge."

Turgeon had taken Trimble out of the game with five minutes to go. At that point, Trimble had only six points and his coach thought his leader needed to gather himself for the stretch run.

"Melo was Melo," Turgeon said. "I put him back in at (the three-minute mark) and said just take over. When you've got a player like Melo, you just kind of get out of the way and let him do what he does."

Maryland (20-2, 8-1) is now 6-0 on the road after its fifth consecutive Big Ten road victory. The Terrapins are off to the best start in program history through 22 games.

"It's been a pretty amazing run," Turgeon said. "Our guys like being on the road."

Ohio State challenged but could never overtake Maryland in the second half, closing within one point four times in the final seven minutes.

"That was a gut-check win for us," Turgeon said. "Coming from Minnesota on Saturday after an emotional game and have to come back and play a team that was ready to play ... really proud of our guys."

Jae'Sean Tate finished with 20 points, and Marc Loving had 18 for Ohio State (13-10, 3-7). Trevor Thompson led the Buckeyes with nine rebounds.

"We knew going in that Maryland was a great team," Tate said. "Our whole thing was to keep it close. It's hard to stay with a team like that when you get down too much."

A competitive first half that included three ties and six lead changes ended with Maryland on top 42-36. The Terrapins' biggest lead of the game was 10 points early in the second half.

Jackson picked up where he left off after scoring 28 points in Saturday's win at Minnesota, hitting his first five shots from the field and three 3-pointers on the way to 13 first-half points.

"Most of the stuff he got in the first half was out of the flow," Turgeon said. "It was kind of open for him early. The last two games he's really shot the ball well."

Trimble was held to two points and was 1 of 5 from the floor in the opening half. However, the final three minutes of the game were a different story.

"He's been so outstanding at the end of games in his three years here," Turgeon said. "I just told him that it was his game and then got out of his way."

Ohio State turned in an improved performance after a road loss to Iowa on Saturday but still didn't have enough to pull off the win.

"I thought we executed better offensively tonight," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. "I thought we had a better flow and pace to us. We have to continue to climb the stairs of success."

NOTES: G Melo Trimble is one of only five Maryland players in history to reach 1,400 points, 350 assists and 100 steals. ... Ohio State is 0-5 against ranked teams. ... Maryland has yet to play a ranked opponent this season. ... Terrapins G Dion Wiley (back) could return for Saturday's game against Purdue. He has traveled with the team for the past two games. ... Maryland F Michal Cekovsky has played a combined 15 minutes in the past three games since returning from a foot injury.