No. 21 Maryland beats Winthrop 82-62

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) Maryland rebounded from its first loss of the season with a performance far more befitting the 21st-ranked team in the country.

Jake Layman scored 21 points, Melo Trimble and Richaud Pack had 16 apiece and the Terrapins pulled away to an 82-62 victory over Winthrop on Saturday.

Jared Nickens added 12 points for the Terrapins (8-1), who were coming off a double-digit home defeat against No. 7 Virginia on Wednesday.

In this one, Maryland failed to score in the opening 4 1/2 minutes and fell behind by nine points. But the Terrapins eventually asserted themselves on both ends of the court to create some separation.

''The start of the game, I don't know if it was coming off the loss or whatever, but we weren't very good,'' coach Mark Turgeon said. ''After that, I thought we were as good as we've been all year. That's a good team. Where we are right now, to do what we did, I was really proud of our guys.''

The lessons learned in the loss to Virginia were applied against Winthrop, with positive results.

''In the UVA game, we played some of our worst defense all year,'' Layman said. ''Today, it was a big focus of ours and we did a good job.''

Maryland limited the Eagles (3-4) to 36 percent shooting and finished with a 37-26 rebounding advantage. It also blocked seven shots and had four steals.

''We got a lot better today,'' Turgeon said.

Keon Moore led Winthrop with 20 points and Keon Johnson had 18. It's been a strange season for the Eagles, who defeated Clemson on the road but also lost to Savannah State and Jacksonville State.

Maryland took 19 more free throws than Winthrop. Layman was 4 for 11 from the floor but hit 11 of 14 foul shots and also grabbed six rebounds.

''A big difference in the game was their ability to get to the free-throw line and put fouls on us,'' Winthrop coach Pat Kelsey said. ''They shot 35 free-throw attempts and made 29 of them, so credit to them for stepping up and knocking those down.''

The game was tied at 35 after Moore sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around a free throw by Layman.

Layman then put the Terrapins up for good with a basket in the lane, and Pack made successive layups to make it 41-35 with 16:34 remaining.

After a Winthrop timeout, Layman capped the 7-0 run with a foul shot.

The Terrapins led 52-46 before Layman sank two free throws, Pack made a driving layup and Nickens drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key for a 13-point cushion with 8:48 left.

That all but assured Maryland of its fifth straight win against Winthrop. The teams last met in 2006.

Winthrop had more field goals than Maryland in the first half (11-10), and the Terrapins overcame nine turnovers to take a 34-29 lead at the break.

Maryland trailed 13-4 before a dunk by Damonte Dodd and a 3-pointer by Nickens launched a 12-2 run that put the Terrapins in front for the first time.

Dodd, a sophomore, finished with nine points and a career-high 10 rebounds.

TIP INS

Winthrop: The Eagles fell to 0-5 in games against Big Ten opponents and 0-11 against current members of the Big Ten. Winthrop's last win over a Top 25 school was 76-70 against No. 19 Miami in December 2007.

Maryland: The Terrapins played a fourth straight game without injured forward Dez Wells (broken right wrist) and for the seventh time were without forward Evan Smotrycz (ankle). Turgeon has used five different starting lineups in nine games, with only Trimble and Layman starting every one of them.

UP NEXT

Winthrop hosts Mars Hill College on Tuesday.

Maryland hosts North Carolina Central on Wednesday.

KEON AND KEON

Moore and Johnson accounted for well over half of Winthrop's points and nearly half the shots (25 of 58).

''We need those guys to score for us to be good,'' Kelsey said. ''It's good to see those guys having a good game and a big game on a big stage.''