Donta Scott was clearly struggling from the field in the first half against Saint Peters, going 1-7 from the field and 2-5 from the free throw line despite Maryland being up double digits.
But when he hit two threes in a row at the beginning of the second half, it began to look like the Terps were gonna close the game out.
Those threes were just two of the eight that Maryland hit on the night, shooting 38.1% from three against Saint Peters. Three players scored in double digits for the Terps, as Maryland men’s basketball ended its three-game losing streak with a 75-45 victory over Saint Peters.
The team defense for the Terps was absolutely amazing, holding Saint Peters to under 50 points, just the second time they’ve done that to a team all season. The number one thing the Terps did early and often was force the Peacocks into bad shots at the end of the shot clock, as they shot just 17-56 on the night.
The high energy Maryland played with had the Peacocks coughing up the ball a lot, committing 17 turnovers compared to just 8 from the Terps. It was a defensive masterclass from coach Kevin Willard’s squad.
Despite being out-rebounded by the Peacocks 38-30, Maryland’s offensive performance carried the Terps to a major victory. Senior guard Hakim Hart led the way, scoring 18 points on 6-7 shooting from the floor, while graduate student guard Jahmir Young scored 16 on 4-5 shooting from the field. But graduate student forward Patrick Emilien was the unexpected star of the game, with a season high 10 points to go along with four rebounds and three blocks in his first start of the year in reserve for an injured Julian Reese.
Sophomore guard Ian Martinez started the scoring with a pull up in his second career start for the Terps.
Maryland started off the game on a 6-0 run before fifth year guard Isiah Dasher woke up. Coming off of a 29-point outing against Quinnipiac, Dasher hit a pull up three at the end of the shot clock as a part of his own 7-0 run to give the Peacocks an early 7-6 lead.
Willard was livid at his team to start the first half, as they were being out-rebounded and in a tight fight with the Peacocks. However, Maryland found a spark as the defense began turning into offense. A highlight from this sequence was when senior guard Don Carey found a lane in the fastbreak and sprinted from beyond half court to the basket for a layup, forcing a timeout at 17-9.
After getting elbowed in the face and fouled, Hart started to turn up and extend the lead for the Terrapins. He scored seven straight points for the Terps, including a tough and-one finish driving to the left with his right hand, putting them up by double digits with under five minutes to go in the first half.
After Maryland continued to maintain its double-digit advantage to the end of the first half, the game went into halftime on an insane sequence. Out of a timeout, Maryland held the ball until eight seconds left when Young hit a pull up three to go up 35-19. The Terps struggled to get back on defense, so the Peacocks pushed the ball up the court to redshirt freshman forward Mouhamed Sow for a layup. That seemingly easy layup was swatted by Emilien, who got back on defense to keep Maryland’s lead at 16.
The three-point barrage to start the second period put the Terps up by more than 20, something which Saint Peters just couldn’t come back from as Maryland won by 30.
Maryland will look to begin a new win streak as it takes on cross state rival UMBC on Dec. 29 at the XFINITY Center.
