For a seven-minute stretch in the second half, the youthful Maryland men?s basketball team played to its potential.
Behind a mistake-free offense and a suffocating defense, the Terps (4-2) went on a 15-0 run over 7:24 in the second half Friday to spark a 72-51 win over Lehigh (2-3) in a non-conference showdown at Comcast Center.
“Offensively, we stayed with the flow of the game,” coach Gary Williams said. “We didn?t try to make great plays, we didn?t try to force anything. We just took what came from executing our transition and our half-court offense. And the offense was much better for it. We?ve been trying to get to that since practice started. That stretch was good.”
Sophomore guard Greivis Vasquez scored a career-high 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including 2-of-3 from beyond the three-point arc.
“I?ve got to really be under control,” Vasquez said. “I?m a [high-energy] player and I can?t just start going crazy. I have to be under control. That?s how I hit my shots. Before the game, I said, ?I?m going to relax.?”
Fellow sophomore guard Eric Hayes added 11 points and seven assists as Maryland committed just 12 turnovers.
The Terps shot 50.9 percent from the field, including 5-of-14 from three-point range. The three-point shooting was especially uplifting, after the team struggled with long-range shooting in losses to UCLA and Missouri.
“It?s always great to see the threes go down,” Hayes said. “When you?re only making twos and the [opponents] are making threes, you definitely get in a hole. We got some open threes today and we had a lot of guys knocking them down.”
Maryland hosts Illinois (6-1) Wednesday night at 7:30 as part of the Big 10/ACCChallenge. Maryland took last year?s game, 72-66, in Champaign, Ill.
“It?s going to be a big game Wednesday,” Hayes said. “They?ll come in here fired-up because we beat them last year at their place. They?re going to want to come in here and do the same thing to us.”
Senior forward Bambale Osby missed Friday?s game with a stomach virus. Freshman Braxton Dupree started in Osby?s place, and led the team with 10 first-half points on his way to 14 points and five rebounds.
“I felt good,” Dupree said. “I was a little nervous at the beginning, but I settled down. I just had to match the same intensity [Osby brings].”
Senior forward James Gist scored 11 points with a game-high eight rebounds, and added two huge blocks in the first half. Freshman guard Adrian Bowie gave the Terps 21 solid minutes from the bench, chipping in four points and five rebounds.
Maryland scored 21 points off Lehigh?s 19 turnovers, while the Mountain Hawks were able to convert just nine on the Terps? miscues.
Lehigh out-rebounded Maryland, 36-34, and got 12 points each from guards Rob Keefer and Matt Szalachowski. Maryland is now 2-0 all-time in the series with Lehigh.
