Terps dominate second half in blowout win

What remained of the Comcast Center crowd stood and begged Adrian Bowie to take one more shot.

As the final minute expired in Tuesday's Terrapin men's basketball game against Winston-Salem State, the Terps were just two points away from hitting the century mark. Bowie thought about attacking the basket a final time—until he saw coach Gary Williams motioning him to hold back.

The choice became easy.

"You gotta listen to the coach instead of the crowd," Bowie said, "so that's what I did."

When the game started, the question for Williams was whether his team would be able to bounce back from a 10-day break for final exams.

By the end, the 21st-year coach's main concern was preserving good sportsmanship.

The Terps started slow but ultimately romped to a 98-55 win, hitting the Rams with a potent combination of three-point shooting, pressure defense and bench scoring.

Guard Greivis Vasquez recorded his first double double of the season, finishing with a season-high 27 points, 11 rebounds. The senior hit all four of his three-point attempts and ended up two rebounds shy of his second career triple-double.

Guards Cliff Tucker and Adrian Bowie came off the bench to add 13 points and nine points, respectively. Tucker and Bowie, who both recorded season-high point totals, hit three three-pointers a piece as part of the Terps' 12-for-18 effort from deep.

Reserve forward Jordan Williams scored 12—all in the second half—as the Terp bench pumped in 41 points to help the Terps (7-3) score their most points since beating UMKC 101-50 on Dec. 23, 2006.

"I was pleased overall with what we did for not playing for awhile," Gary Williams said. "Hopefully, this gets us started for the rest of the year."

The Terps' second half effort earned them a comfortable win. In a plodding, foul-marred 20 minutes, the Terps shot 67 percent and outscored the visitors 57-26 after intermission.

It was necessary because the Rams, who have yet to beat a Division I opponent this season, hung around for most of the first half, despite allowing the Terps to hit 9-of-12 first half three-pointers.

Winston-Salem State (2-7) cut the lead to 33-29 with 3:16 left in the first half, but the Terps closed the half on an 8-0 run and continued to stymie the Rams early in the second half.

By the time Winston-Salem State scored another field goal, a Paul Davis alley-oop dunk with 15:40 left in the game, the Terps led by 21.

Gary Williams said his team just needed to fight through "some rust."

Tucker said the turnaround can be traced to an improved defensive effort, a point of emphasis during the team's recent break. The Terps, who forced 19 turnovers in the game, limited the Rams to 27 percent shooting in the second half.

"Coach [Williams] kinda got on us at halftime," Tucker said. "And we took it upon ourselves to not just worry about scoring, and we played better [defense] in the second half. Hopefully it continues."

Once the defense started shutting down Winston-Salem State, which will drop back down to Division II next season after five seasons in Division I, the lead ballooned.

That's because the Terps got offense from unexpected places.

Bowie and Tucker had particularly been struggling coming in.

Bowie, who was 1-for-14 on three-point attempts coming in, showed his newfound confidence early, including a long three-pointer from the top of the key with the shot clock running down in the first half.

Tucker, who hit all five of his field goal attempts, said he hadn't been taking practices seriously early in the year, leading to his uneven minutes thus far but had his best week of practice leading up to the game.

"Today I just got in the game—I wasn't worrying about anything," Tucker said. "I just knew I was going to shoot the ball and fortunately it went in, so I just kept shooting."

Sean Mosley had 12 points and Eric Hayes chipped in 10 points to give the Terps five double digit scorers for the first time since the season-opening win against Charleston Southern on Nov. 13. Dino Gregory was the only player who logged more than three minutes that did not score at least seven points.

In transforming the game from a tight two-possession affair to threatening the 100-point mark in a dominating win, the Terps showcased an element of their game not present early this season.

"When everybody came out knocking threes, you knew it was going to be a problem for them," Bowie said. "We shoot that way, I don't see many teams beating us."

Terp Note: Walk-on David Pearman did not dress due to a sprained right knee. He will be re-evaluated before Sunday's game against Florida Atlantic, but a team official said the injury is not considered serious. Pearman had been available but not played since Nov. 23 against Chaminade.

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