COLLEGE PARK, Md. — If the first three games of the men’s college basketball season were preludes to the first real test, then Maryland let a prime opportunity slip away.

The Terps could not protect a four-point lead at halftime and did not have much of a solution for containing Kam Jones as No. 15 Marquette rallied for a 78-74 victory Friday night at Xfinity Center.

Freshman center Derik Queen demonstrated why he was a five-star recruit in high school, amassing 24 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks. The Baltimore native eclipsed his previous career high of 22 points set in Maryland’s season-opening 79-49 rout of Manhattan on Nov. 4.

Junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie added a season-best 24 points and four rebounds, but they were the only players to reach double figures in points. The team slipped to 3-1 and failed to secure its 10th 4-0 start in the past 11 seasons.

The setback was the Terps’ fifth against a ranked opponent in their past six games. They dropped to 6-8 against ranked foes under coach Kevin Willard.

Unlike the first three games, when Maryland won each by at least a 30-point margin for the first time in school history, the team labored against the Golden Eagles (3-1). After all, this was an opponent that challenged back-to-back national champion UConn in last winter’s Big East Tournament final, was the No. 2 seed in the South region of the NCAA Tournament and advanced to its first Sweet Sixteen since 2013 before getting ambushed by No. 11 seed North Carolina State.

And neither of the Terps’ first three foes featured a player like Jones. The senior shooting guard demonstrated why he is one of the top players in the Big East by scoring 18 of his 28 points in the second half. In that frame, Jones shot 6-of-9 from the field, including 2-of-3 from behind the 3-point line, and finished with three rebounds.

And unlike Manhattan, Mount St. Mary’s and Florida A&M, which combined to average 19.7 turnovers, Marquette was much more steady with the ball. The team committed just seven giveaways, and the Terps gained just five points from those miscues.

On the flipside, Maryland turned the ball over 13 times, exceeding its previous high of 10 in the season-opening 79-49 rout of the Jaspers. That proved costly because the Golden Eagles exchanged those mistakes for 15 points.

Nursing a four-point lead at halftime, the Terps maintained that gap until Marquette scored seven unanswered points in a 1:30 span to assume a 47-44 lead. Gillespie poured in seven consecutive points over a 1:48 stretch, but the Golden Eagles remained ahead.

Maryland then took off on a 7-0 run capped by sophomore shooting guard Rodney Rice’s 3-pointer to reclaim a 59-56 lead. That’s when Jones put on a clinic.

He scored Marquette’s next 12 points in a 3:36 span. He ignited the spurt with back-to-back 3-pointers, delivered a layup-and-1, and then sank three-of-four free throws to lift the Golden Eagles into a 68-61 advantage with 4:45 left in regulation.

The Terps clawed back to get within 68-65 on a layup by Queen and two free throws by graduate student small forward Selton Miguel. After senior point guard Stevie Mitchell sank two free throws to give Marquette a 76-69 lead, Gillespie nailed a 3-pointer and sophomore shooting guard DeShawn Harris-Smith made a layup to narrow the deficit to 76-74 with 36 seconds left.

But Gillespie missed a layup attempt with 22 seconds to go, and Harris-Smith missed two free throws with 15 seconds left, and the Golden Eagles emerged with the win.

Maryland whiffed on four of its last five free throws and 5-of-14 for the game. Marquette converted 18-of-24 free throws.

After a relatively quiet span following his 22-point, 20-rebound debut in that win against Manhattan, Queen scored four of the Terps’ first six points to stake the team to a 6-2 lead. But Jones scored eight unanswered points to put Marquette ahead, 10-6.

Miguel’s five points kicked off a 7-3 spurt that tied the score at 13-13. The two sides then traded buckets until sophomore shooting guard DeShawn Harris-Smith’s back-to-back layups ignited a 7-0 run in a 1:12 span to fuel the Terps’ ascent to a 27-23 lead with 3:32 left in the first half.

Jones’ layup ended a 2:10 drought for the Golden Eagles. But Queen scored five of the period’s last eight points to send Maryland into halftime with a 34-30 lead.

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