Maryland Basketball: Terrapins Topple Minnesota

Maryland and Minnesota entered this game needing a win to stay relevant in Big Ten play this season, and the Terrapins got the job done 77-66.

This game started off rather slow, with both teams combining for seven points at the first media timeout.

This trend continued throughout the first half, but Maryland was able to take a 29-28 lead into the locker room. As a team the Terrapins shot 46% from the field, compared to just 30% for the Golden Gophers.

During the second half, Maryland would finally open up the scoring and take a commanding lead. At one point Mark Turgeon’s team led by 17 points.

After the game Turgeon noted, “we were good defensively for the first 10 minutes of the second half… and were were just good enough offensively.”

This half was also significant, because the Terrapins broke away with Bruno Fernando on the bench. Just under a minute into the second half, Fernando got his third foul, and was subsequently benched by Turgeon.

He later returned when Michal Cekovsky picked up his second personal foul, but by that time Maryland already had a double digit lead.

The Terrapins scoring was led by Cekovsky, Kevin Huerter, and Anthony Cowan, who finished with 17, 19, and 15 respectively. Sophomore Darryl Morsell also finished in double figures with 13 points, and a slick alley-oop that really got things going.

Being able to rely on scoring and energy sources other than Bruno Fernando proved once again that Turgeon does have depth on this roster still, despite injuries. Anthony Cowan may have finished with a double double, but his presence wasn’t really felt when Maryland was making their major run in the early parts of the second half.

Turgeon noted that this team needs to get better on the road in order to get where they want to be. The Terrapins have a chance to take a positive step as they travel to Bloomington on monday to take on Indiana and try to obtain a winning record in conference play. That game will be televised on FS1 and tip-off at 7pm.