Running away from Niagara in the 2nd half, the University of Maryland improved to 23-12 on the year, and moved into the 2nd round of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) with a 86-70 win over the Purple Eagles.

In the 2nd round Thursday night, Maryland will either play Denver (21-9 overall, 16-2 in the Western Athletic Conference, 66th RPI), or Ohio (24-9 overall, 14-2 in the Mid-American Conference, 67th RPI).

The Good:

1) Layman got to the line, giving MD their first points of the night. Hitting an open 3, Layman pulled the Terps within 2 at 20-18. Layman had a block in help defense, with the Terps down 24-23. ESPN‘s Ellis gave credit to Layman’s defense, particularly when Len was out of the game.

2) The Terps went up 5-2 when Wells hit a 3. A dunk from Wells made it 9-2. A layup with 8:30 left in the 1st half, gave the lead back to MD at 23-22. Good rebound from Wells with the game tied at 29. A 2nd half steal from Wells led to a layup for Allen, and a 6 point Terps lead (42-36). A short jumper in the lane, put MD up 63-46. The next time down, saw a good feed from Howard, and a great finish from Wells. Wells scored while being fouled on the play.

3) Following up his own misses, Len scored inside for his first bucket. That made it 7-2. Nice block from Len, with MD down 14-11. Nice look from Len to find Aronhalt for a 3 in the middle of the 1st half. Len kept a possession for MD, tapping out a missed shot from Wells. Getting the ball back, Len finished with a dunk. Len put the Terps up 33-29 with a basket in the lane. Two FT’s from Len made it 44-36.

4) Fighting for position, Mitchell earned a trip to the line, and tied the game at 11 with 2 made FT’s. A reverse move along the baseline, made it 14-13 Niagara. Mitchell tipped in a miss from Len, making it 17-15 Niagara. Scoring inside, Mitchell extended the lead to 16 (54-38), and sent Niagara into a timeout. Taking a full-court pass, Mitchell scored late in the game. 10 points tonight for Mitchell.

5) An Aronhalt 3 made it 22-21 Niagara. Another Aronhalt 3 in the 2nd half extended the lead to 12 at 50-38. A third 3 from Aronhalt (set-up with good ball movement), put the Terps up 19 with 11:30 left. A fourth 3, pushed the lead to 21. Aronhalt’s fifth 3 came with just over a minute left.

6) Faust had a good pass in the lane to Len, who finished with a slam. Finishing a break-away, Faust tied the game at 29 with a slam of his own. Crashing the boards on a missed 3 form Allen, Faust scored inside to put MD up 35-32. Faust had 6 boards for the Terps in the 1st half. Getting fouled, Faust earned a trip to the line early in the 2nd half. Following his own miss at the line, Faust secured the rebound, and scored inside. This put MD up 47-36. Going baseline, Faust threw down a nice dunk to make it 68-46. He later scored on a short jumper in the lane, doing a good job of using his height advantage. Faust finished with his first career double-double, with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

7) Howard made a nice play defensively, and finished with a layup to pull MD within 2 at 29-27. Howard had 6 assists.

8) Allen gave MD the 31-29 lead, with a jumper for his first basket of the game. He followed that with a steal. Allen had MD’s first points of the 2nd half, burying a 3 from the top of the key. After an Aronhalt 3, Allen came up with a steal, and a layup to make the lead 14 (52-38). With the shot-clock winding down, Allen went into the lane, and scored with a scoop shot. With 2 minutes left, Allen scored again, when he beat his man to the rim. Allen had 15 points.

9) To begin the 2nd half, MD was aggressively attacking the basket. Over the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half, the Terps used a 19-3 run to take control of the game. ESPN‘s Ellis was completely correct. When MD plays with that aggression, that is when MD looks their best.

10) Leading by 18 (56-38), Cleare had a nice block. Layman delivered a good feed to Cleare for a dunk.

11) Maryland limited Niagara to 35% from the floor, and out-rebounded the Purple Eagles 37-29.

12) Five different Terps scored in double-figures.

13) Maryland was 16 of 19 from the line.

The Bad:

1) Layman had an early air-ball. Up 17 in the 2nd half, Layman missed an open 3.

2) With MD up 9-2, the Terps failed to box-out, allowing Mason to score inside, and get to the foul line once fouled.

3) Driving the baseline with MD up 9-5, Faust stepped out of bounds, turning the ball over. With the game tied at 29, Faust was not able to finish a wide open layup. Faust turned the ball over with 5 minutes left in the 1st half, on a wildly errant pass. Faust was called for a moving screen in the middle of the 2nd half. Faust finished with 4 turnovers.

4) Immediately upon entering the game, Allen launched a 3. Allen was 1 for 6 from 3 for the game.

5) MD went from being up 9-2, to being down 11-9.

6) A shot-clock violation was called on MD, with Cleare holding the ball, and the Terps down 10-9. MD was up 17 with 11 minutes left, when Cleare failed to get a rebound. This allowed Niagara to get another shot and score.

7) The Terps were down 14-11, when Len picked up a charge call in the lane.

8) Mitchell picked an offensive foul, with MD down 20-15. Mitchell missed a chip shot inside early in the 2nd half.

9) With 6 minutes+ left in the 1st half, Aronhalt dribbled the ball off his leg.

10) After MD reclaimed the lead at 23-22, Niagara had a 7-0 run.

11) The game was tied at 35 when MD had a full time-out with 24 seconds left in the 1st half. For 19 seconds, MD looked uncomfortable, prior to Wells being fouled with 5 seconds left in the half. Giving MD more time to prepare run a play, the Terps had trouble getting the ball in-play, and wound-up with Wells just chucking a wild 3 point attempt from several feet behind the line.

13) The 2nd half started with Len picking up a cheap foul, and turning the ball over with a a lazy pass.

14) Up 19 with 6 minutes left, Howard threw the ball away.

The Ugly:

1) At half-time, this game was tied at 35. Maryland led on the boards 19-13, but Niagara had 6 offensive boards.

Chris Stoner
Chris Stoner

Owner

Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.

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