After a slow start in the opening minutes of Friday night’s game, Maryland men’s basketball found their groove and cruised to a second consecutive win inside the Xfinity Center after defeating Mount St. Mary’s, 86-52. Maryland has now won 11 consecutive non-conference home games and 17 against unranked non-conference teams.
Rodney Rice led the way with a career-high 28 points, including 26 in the first half.
Maryland rolled out the same starting five as game one with DeShawn Harris-Smith and Selton Miguel flipping at the two and three, but the offense struggled to get going after the team hit just one of their first five attempts, crawling into an early 10-2 hole in the opening minutes.
Maryland would claw their way back ahead thanks to seven Mount St. Mary turnovers over a four-minute stretch midway through the first half – and the Terps never looked back. Maryland’s defense forced 12 first-half turnovers and 25 on the night, while the Mount shot 37.9% from inside the arc including 33.3% in the second-half.
After Mount St. Mary's took a 14-9 lead roughly six minutes into the game, Maryland outscored The Mount 29-5 over the ensuing 7:54 as Ja'Kobi Gillespie and Rodney Rice led the offense. Rodney Rice poured in 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting by halftime, while Ja’Kobi Gillespie added 13 points as the two combined to shoot 6-of-8 from three through the first 20 minutes. Rice became the first
After the two teams traded buckets through the opening minutes of the second half, Maryland held The Mount without a field goal and forced six turnovers over the next 6:41 as they then flirted with a 40-point lead midway through.
Seven different players scored in the win, while Julian Reese knocked down his first field goal with just under nine minutes left in the game. Selton Miguel added 11 points for his first career points as a Terp.
Maryland returns to action on Monday night to host Florida A&M with tipoff set for 7:00 PM.
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