Feature photo courtesy of Maryland Athletics.
At halftime of their tilt with the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Saturday afternoon, the Terps were winning 35-29.
Two minutes and 13 seconds into the second half, guard Rasheed Sulaimon found point guard Melo Trimble on the perimeter and Trimble nailed a three point shot. Just 17 seconds later, moments after forward Jake Layman stole the ball, Trimble added another triple.
The quick back-to-back possessions gave the Terps a 48-33 lead, capping off a 13-4 run and forcing UMES to take a timeout.
Trimble and Sulaimon’s chemistry in the backcourt helped the No. 6 Terps put away UMES 77-56 and improve to 9-1 on the season.
“They’re just going to continue to grow with every game and with every practice,” guard Jared Nickens said. “I just see the improvement every game. I like their chemistry, and it rubs off on everyone else.”
Trimble scored a team-high 18 points and hit all four of his threes, while Sulaimon dished out a career high ten assists.
The duo has worked to develop chemistry all season. Sulaimon pinpointed the game against North Carolina as the moment they really started to click.
“Even though we lost that game, I thought me and him really found that point where we can really play with each other and we knew we had a great backcourt to help the rest of the team be successful as well,” Sulaimon said.
The Terps assisted on 18 of their 23 made baskets against the Hawks. Sulaimon and Trimble accounted for 14 of those assists, but Sulaimon was the main distributor.
So, so pretty! Rasheed Sulaimon finds Jake Layman for the highlight-reel @umterps alley-oop. https://t.co/pM24xb1Gxx
— Maryland On BTN (@MarylandOnBTN) December 12, 2015
“It speaks about how good of a teammate he is,” Trimble said. “… A lot of people worry about scoring, Rasheed, he’s just worried about winning.”
The respect between the guards is mutual.
“[Melo]’s an efficient guy. He’s our leader; he’s the head of the snake,” Sulaimon said. “When he’s playing at a high level like that, it gives the rest of us confidence. He did a great job of running the team, hitting open shots and just being efficient.”
While the rest of the team made only six of 17 three point attempts, Trimble connected on all four of his shots from downtown, tying his season high for threes made.
Trimble entered the game shooting 34.4 percent from three point range on the season. Once the game was over, his season mark improved to 41.7 percent.
“[Trimble] just goes with the flow of the game,” head coach Mark Turgeon said. “If it’s there for him, he will take it.”
Trimble did just that on all four of his threes, three of which were assisted by Sulaimon.
“[Sulaimon] likes to pass. He makes winning plays,” Turgeon said. “He doesn’t shoot a lot. He doesn’t force things.”
Despite success from Sulaimon and Trimble, the Terps were being outshot 46 to 42 percent at the half. In the second half, they outshot the Hawks 63.2 to 45.8 percent.
Trimble scored ten in the second half, while Carter and Nickens each contributed six second half points. Sulaimon assisted on four baskets in the second half.
The Hawks pulled within 15 with 3:44 to go, but the Terps closed the game out on an 8-2 run.
Forward Ivan Bender scored the game’s final three points on an and-one.
Maryland attempted 24 free throws and made 21 of them.
The Terps held on for the victory with the help of good free throw shooting and strong play from their stars in the backcourt, and Sulaimon and Trimble’s chemistry continued to progress.
“We’re just trying to continue to get better,” Sulaimon said. “Get our chemistry better and the team’s chemistry better as we go along.”
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