No. 17 Maryland Men's Basketball win 57-50 over Purdue
COLLEGE PARK, MD. -- Jalen Smith led the Terrapins with 18 points and 10 rebounds as the team topped the Purdue Boilmakers 57-50 Saturday afternoon at the Xfinity Center.
Maryland led by as many as 18 points and went on a 20-4 run within the first eight minutes of the game. They went into halftime leading 36-20 in one of their strongest first half performances of the season.
Three out of Maryland's five starters had a night to forget. Anthony Cowan Jr had one of his worst basketball performances of his collegiate career as he made only 1-8 (.125) of his shots. Darryl Morsell and Eric Ayala did not do much better combining for 3-12 (.250) with nine points scored.
Nojel Eastern scored 14 points, going 6-11 (.545) from the field. The rest of the team struggled making 14-45 (.311) from the field and 3-17 (.176) from behind the arc.
Purdue made a ferocious attempt at a comeback, reducing the deficit to three by a score of 53-50 with 2:06 remaining in the game. Their errors within the final two minutes of the game halted their comeback in the second half and allowed Maryland to escape with the victory.
With the win, Maryland improves to 14-4 on the season, with a 4-3 record against Big Ten opponents. They remain unbeaten at home with an 11-0 record.
Purdue falls to 10-8 on the season, failing to capitalize on their previous victory against No. 19 Michigan as their struggles on the road continues.
The Terrapins will travel to Evanston, Illinois to take on the Northwestern Wildcats (6-10) on Tuesday.
