COLLEGE PARK, Md. — For three quarters, the showdown of the remaining Big Ten unbeatens featured two teams delivering a compelling, rollicking, back-and-forth, high-level show.

Then came the final 15 minutes, when just one team put on that show.

That was Maryland, which rattled off goals on its first eight possessions of the fourth quarter to suddenly turn a riveting one-goal game into a 19-12 rout of Rutgers.

“We just wanted to finish the game,” coach John Tillman said. “We knew they could score goals in bunches, so we wanted to continue to be aggressive.”

Jared Bernhardt scored a career-high six goals for the Terrapins (4-0, 4-0 Big Ten), while Daniel Maltz added four and Kyle Long had three. Eric Malever added one goal and three assists for Maryland, which improved to 8-0 against the Scarlet Knights (3-1, 3-1) since the Big Ten began sponsoring men’s lacrosse in 2015.

Adam Charalambides scored four goals for Rutgers, which trailed 11-10 entering the final period but met the sort of barrage the Terps unleashed in the third quarter the previous two weeks against Penn State and Johns Hopkins.

“We wanted to make sure the possession time didn’t get too skewed in one direction,” Rutgers coach Brian Brecht said. “I think when you fail one or two clears and have maybe not the same possession time with faceoffs, that gives a very talented offense that is greased up and playing as well as any I’ve seen right now [some help]. So you don’t want to give them extra opportunities, that’s for sure, because they can find the back of the cage.”

Bernhardt did that plenty as he continued to find a groove after returning to Maryland for a fifth season after hoping to play Division II football in the fall. That pursuit ultimately didn’t come to fruition, but his re-adjustment to lacrosse is going just swimmingly four weeks into the season.

The 2019 Tewaaraton finalist had two goals in the opener, three against Penn State and five against Johns Hopkins before Saturday’s stellar day. His seven points gave him 215 for his career; he passed both Frank Urso and Ray Altman to move into fourth place on Maryland’s career list.

But it was hardly a one-man band, as the fourth quarter demonstrated. Seven Terps scored in a span of a little more than eight minutes, a stretch that coincided in part with Maryland winning five of the first six faceoffs of the period.

“I think guys were just settling in,” Bernhardt said. “They weren’t sliding too much. It’s pretty simple. If they’re not sliding, we just have to beat our matchup and score. If they start sliding, we have guys who are going to move it, and we’ll find guys who will be able to finish.”

Meanwhile, Maryland defenseman Nick Grill bottled up Rutgers graduate student Connor Kirst, who had 11 goals and five assists in the Scarlet Knights’ first two games but was held to a pair of first-half assists Saturday.

“I thought we could have played together a little bit more,” Brecht said. “When Connor had the ball in his stick, just like the fans, I think sometimes we watch to see what he can do.”

Still, there was a lot to like about the Scarlet Knights’ showing for much of the day in their biggest barometer to date. The Rutgers offense functioned smoothly in the first half, and the free-flowing nature of the first half felt like the style of game the Scarlet Knights often aim to create.

But Maryland was able to take advantage of unsettled situations as well, including Joshua Coffman’s second-quarter goal off an assist from defenseman Matt Rahill. When Maltz scored off a Logan Wisnauskas feed just three seconds before the break, it was tied at 9.

“I think the guys made really good decisions in transition, and we got a few in transition,” Tillman said. “They’re going to get some, but I also think that teams that like to run, they’ll give you some opportunities. You just have to be good enough to can them.”

Maryland was, and it also benefited from its depth in the fourth quarter. Malever, part of the Terps’ second midfield, had one assist in the team’s first three games but was in the middle of plenty of scoring opportunities. Colgate transfer Griffin Brown, who entered with two goals and an assist, pushed the lead to 13-10 early in the fourth.

Kieran Mullins replied 10 seconds later to get Rutgers within two, but the Scarlet Knights wouldn’t have possession again until after Maryland rattled off three goals in a row to create separation.

“With 10 minutes to go, that was the one where we needed to regroup,” Brecht said. “We needed to catch our breath. It wasn’t the third quarter. It wasn’t the start of the fourth. It was that moment right there at 15-11 we needed to stop the bleeding, and unfortunately with 10 minutes to go, we didn’t do that.”

Rutgers will get another shot at Maryland in two weekends when the Terps make the trip to Piscataway on March 28. Such is life this year in the Big Ten, where an unforgiving double round-robin format leaves little time to linger on losses.

The same is true of victories. Maryland, which visits Ohio State next weekend, is assured of reaching the midpoint of conference play with at least a share of first place. But even after uncorking a fourth-quarter bombardment, the Terps understand there is plenty still in front of them over the next month and a half.

“A really big win in so many ways in our conference, knowing you’re almost through this thing [the first time],” Tillman said. “To get our first four is huge, but knowing three of those four have been at home, we have a lot of work to do.”