Maryland beats Rutgers 56-51
Anthony Cowan Jr scored a game-high 17 points to lead the Terrapins (18-4) to a 56-51 win over the Scarlet Knights (16-7) Tuesday night at the Xfinity Center. This would be his second straight game leading Maryland in points.
Despite Cowan's points, neither Maryland or Rutgers were accurate with their shots. The Terrapins went 18-53 (.340) from the field as Rutgers did not fare much better, going 22-65 (.338).
Maryland came out of the gate outscoring Rutgers 14-6 to start the game. During that span of seven minutes, the Terrapins were doing the most damage from behind the arc. Jalen Smith made two 3-pointers, as Cowan and Darryl Morsell made one each.
For the remainder of the first half, the Terrapins were flat as the Scarlet Knights went on a 19-6 run to take a 25-20 lead.
Graduate student Akwasi Yeboah could not be slowed down, no matter the Terrapins' efforts to do so. He scored 11 points, which includes draining three 3-point shots before going into the break.
Even with Maryland's early struggles, they rebounded in the second half. They completely shutdown Yeboah. After going 4-6 (.667) in the first half, he was limited to two points while making 1-5 (.200).
The Terrapins went on a 24-11 run with 7:57 remaining in the game. Even though Rutgers managed to tie the game with 3:25 on the clock, Maryland's stellar defense in forcing bad shots and turnovers helped them win another in-conference matchup.
Maryland improves to 8-3 in conference play as Rutgers drops to 7-5. What is even more impressive is the Terrapins' undefeated record at home through 13 games.
Maryland will visit No. 20 Illinois on Friday at 8PM EST.
