Maryland men’s basketball guard Melo Trimble has come a long way since being the state’s top-rated player out of high school in 2014. And Tuesday at Penn State, the junior from Upper Marlboro became the 17th Maryland player to score 1,500 career points.

A little more than a minute into the game, Trimble made an and-one layup to open Maryland’s scoring. He then converted the free throw to reach the milestone.

Trimble, the team’s leading scorer for the third straight season, paces the Terps (20-3, 8-2 Big Ten) this year with 17.2 points per game.

As a freshman, Trimble teamed up with former guard Dez Wells to help Maryland return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2010. The former McDonald’s All-American put 16.2 points per game during that campaign.

Trimble experienced a scoring drop off his sophomore season (14.8 points per game), but guided the Terps to its first Sweet 16 appearance in 13 years. Now, he’s the leader of a young squad near the top of the Big Ten standings.

“Melo Trimble is the best leader and closer in college basketball,” ESPN analyst Dan Dakich said.

Trimble has plenty of time this season to move up the program’s all-time scoring list, as Maryland has eight more regular season games after Tuesday, the Big Ten Tournament and (maybe) the NCAA tournament.

Here is a list of the players who sit in front of Trimble on the scoring list:

  1. Juan Dixon 2,269

  2. Greivis Vasquez 2,171

  3. Len Bias 2,149

  4. Albert King 2,058

  5. Adrian Branch 2,017

  6. John Lucas 2,015

  7. Lonny Baxter 1,858

  8. Tom McMillen 1,807

  9. Keith Booth 1,776

  10. Johnny Rhodes 1,743

  11. Terence Morris 1,733

  12. Walt Williams 1,704

  13. Ernest Graham 1,607

  14. Nik Caner-Medley 1,573

  15. Laron Profit 1,566

  16. Greg Manning 1,561