Box score

COLLEGE PARK, MD—Maryland, one of the storied programs in college basketball history, hosted NJIT Wednesday night and the powerful Terrapins used a balanced attack to topple the Highlanders, 89-50, in the Comcast Center.

 

The Terps, who were national champions in 2002 and are a near-perennial participant in the NCAA Tournament, got double-figure scoring from six different players against NJIT. Four starters and two reserves reached double-figures for Maryland, paced by sophomore center Jordan Williams and senior forward Dino Gregory with 14 points apiece.

 

Williams, third in the vaunted Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring and tops in the ACC in rebounding, pulled down 12 boards Wednesday night, while Gregory fell just short of a double-double, with 9 rebounds as Maryland upped its season record to 8-4.

 

NJIT (2-7) got a team-high 10 points from sophomore guard Chris Flores, while three Highlanders--Jheryl Wilson, Lamar Kearse, and Ryan Regis--shared team rebounding honors with four apiece. As a team, the much smaller Highlanders were competitive with Maryland, losing the battle under the boards, 35-28.

 

Kearse, the freshman guard, gave NJIT a boost with 8 points and 3 assists in 15 minutes of play. Injured in a November 27 game at Vermont, he had missed the next four games before returning against Maryland.

 

A measure of Maryland's athleticism and superior size showed in its 10 blocked shots, with five different Terps swatting NJIT shots. Gregory, who is 6-foot-7, and 6-10 junior Berend Weijs, each notched 3 blocks. Ryan Regis accounted for two of NJIT's three blocks.

 

Likely the best team NJIT has ever faced in basketball, Maryland is now 155-7 in non-conference home games under legendary coach Gary Williams, who is fifth among active Division I coaches with 657 career wins.

 

NJIT, which never led, competed all night and the game did not get out of hand for the Highlanders until the last 7:30 of the first half. But when things did get out of hand, it happened in extreme fashion.

 

The Terrapins, who had 10 days to stew over a 79-75 home loss against Boston College in the ACC opener on December 12, did not take a double-digit lead against NJIT until Williams scored on a putback to make it 24-13 with 8:18 left in the first half.

 

The Highlanders stayed in a bit longer and trailed, 29-17, after a jump shot by Wilkerson with 6:57 left in the half. Then the Maryland lead exploded, as the Terps raced to a 24-1 advantage the rest of the way to a 53-18 halftime lead.

 

The specialty stats underlined the score—22-6 for Maryland in the paint; 25-0 in points off of turnovers; 11-0 in fast break points; and, 24-2 in bench scoring.

 

Individually, neither team had a double-figure scorer in the opening half, but five Terps had at least 7 points, led by 9 off the bench for Cliff Tucker. PJ Miller, one of two Maryland natives to start for NJIT (Dytanya Johnson is the other), led the Highlanders at the break with 5 points.

 

The biggest problem for the Highlanders in the half, aside from scoring just one point in the last seven minutes, was their 18 turnovers.

 

Trailing by 35 at the half, NJIT never got closer than 34 points the rest of the way. But to the Highlanders' credit, they never got farther behind than 41 and the second-half total was a more-than-respectable four-point gap, with Maryland outscoring NJIT, 36-32, over the last 20 minutes.

 

In the second half, NJIT committed just four turnovers and actually outscored the mighty Terps in points off turnovers, 8-7, after the break. The Highlanders also had a 17-9 edge in second-half bench scoring.

 

And the more even-handed nature of the second half wasn't because of any noticeable easing of Maryland's effort.

 

Most of the Terp starters were resting around the midpoint of the second half when NJIT got two offensive rebounds, made two steals and hit a three-point shot in a span of a minute, prompting Maryland's coach Williams to re-insert three of his starters with the lead at 36 and 9:17 remaining.

 

Despite that move, the Terps lead was just a point higher when the last of the five Maryland starters, Gregory, exited for good at the 2:39 mark.

 

NJIT will break for the Christmas holiday, returning to action on Tuesday, December 28 for a 7 pm home game in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center against first-time opponent Long Island University.

 

The game against LIU begins a stretch that will see the Highlanders play five of their next six contests on Fleisher Family Court. The Maryland game completed a run of five games out of six away from home.