Maryland escaped the Emerald Coast Classic with a win on Sunday, just not in the game they preferred to be playing on the last day of the tournament.
The Terps downed the New Mexico Lobos, 80-65, behind a 46 point effort put up on the scoreboard in the first half.
Michal Cekovsky got the start at center and started the scoring off for the game with an emphatic dunk assisted by Dion Wiley.
Maryland’s next two made buckets came from deep. One by Wiley, and the other by Kevin Huerter.
This sparked an 8-0 Terrapin run to start the game that gave Maryland the lead that they never relinquished as they led the game from start to finish.
Five of Maryland’s first seven made field goals came courtesy of three-point range. Maryland made five three-pointers in the first seven minutes versus the Lobos. They made five total in forty minutes last night against St. Bonaventure.
All five Maryland starters scored at least eight points.
Anthony Cowan led the scoring with 21 points on 6-8 shooting from the floor, including 2-3 from three-point range. Cowan also got to the free-throw line eight times and converted seven of those attempts. The most concerning number on Cowan’s stat line for the game was his eight turnovers.
Justin Jackson continues to struggle shooting the ball. He finished with 16 points however because he was able to get to the free-throw line eight times and convert all eight of those attempts. Jackson shot 4-12 from the floor and missed his only three-point attempt.
Kevin Huerter who struggled to get any offense going against St. Bonaventure last night, put up a nice all-around game in the box score. He nearly recorded a double-double by finishing with eight points, ten rebounds, and six assists. Huerter sank half of his three-point attempts as well (2-4).
Jared Nickens continues to be an offensive spark for the Terps off the bench. He finished with seven points on 2-5 shooting from deep and added a free-throw to round out his scoring numbers.
Freshman phenom Bruno Fernando nearly notched a double-double as well. He came up one point and one rebound shy, finishing with nine each to go along with three blocks.
Maryland was able to open up the game on an extended 27-3 run that allowed the Terps to ride the lead out for the remainder of the game fairly comfortably. Hot shooting from the floor also will help a team race out to a big lead and hold it for the rest of the game.
The Terps shot 52% (24-46) from two-point range, 53% (8-15) from three-point range, and 89% (24-27) from the free-throw line.
The most concerning number in a comfortable win for Maryland was the team still committed far too many turnovers. 22 turnovers is not a recipe for success, but hot shooting allowed it to not backfire and hurt the team this game.
Maryland will travel north to play at Syracuse in the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge Monday night at 7pm.