The 15th-ranked Maryland Terrapins, sparked by the return of Dez Wells, held off the pesky Oakland Golden Grizzlies, 72-56 at Xfinity Center.
Oakland had cut a 23 point deficit to seven at 63-56 but a Wells (10 points, four assists) thunderous dunk stopped any momentum the Golden Grizzles had and a layup by Wells after a turnover gave the Terps a 67-56 lead with 2:56 to play and that was as close as Oakland would get as the Terrapins improved to (12-1) for the year.
Melo Trimble, who was 5-6 from three point range led the Terps in scoring with 17 points. Jake Layman added a double-double with 15 points and a team-high 12 rebounds.
The Terps appeared to be coasting to an easy victory up 42-19 with 18:53 to play but the Grizzlies had other ideas. They went on a 15-4 run to cut the Terps lead to 46-34 with 13:46 to play in the game.
Maryand kept their poise and went to their senior leader Wells, who missed seven games with a broken wrist, and he responded with four of the nine points Maryland would end the game with to finally vanquish the resilent Golden Grizzlies.
The Terps jumped out to a 19-8 lead after a Trimble three-pointer with 12:09 to play in the first half. Maryland led at halftime 37-19 while holding Oakland to 8-29 shooting in the first half.
The Terrapins shot 50 percent from the field while holding Oakland to 38.3 percent shooting for the game. Maryland was also efficient at the free throw line hitting 14-16 of their attempts.
The Golden Grizzlies were led in scoring by Jalen Hayes who had 13 points. Kahlil Felder added 12 points. Dante Williams and Corey Petros had 11 points each and Petros also had a team-high nine rebounds in a losing effort for the (4-10) Golden Grizzlies.
