Terps beat Bucknell

In a tale of two halves, the Maryland Terrapins won the second one, beating the Bucknell Bison 80-78 at a relieved Xfinity Center.

Bucknell came out firing on all cylinders and took a 50-35 lead at the break. So at halftime the Terps made some adjustments, rallied and survived a last second shot that could have won the game for the Bison. Maryland improved to (4-0) for the season.

The Terps were led by guard Anthony Cowan Jr. who had a team-high 17 points, five assists and four rebounds. Kevin Huerter added 16 points, four assists and three rebounds and freshman Bruno Fernando had 14 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots.

Freshman Darryl Morsell, who was part of the second half comeback, finished with 15 points and three rebounds. Sophomore Justin Jackson, who has been struggling with his shot finished with seven points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

Morsell scored 12 of his points in the second half and tallied eight as part of a 10-3 Maryland run to start the second half and his layup with 16:36 to go in the game made the score 53-45.

Back to Back threes by Cowan and Dion Wiley (seven points) made the score 55-51 and the rally was on.

A Fernando layup made the score 61-60 Bucknell with 10:24 to go and a Huerter three completed the comeback and gave the Terp’s their first second half lead at 63-61 with 9:58 to go and the crowd went wild.

Maryland had just gone on a wild 28-11 run.

Now that the Terps were back in the game the teams traded baskets and a three by Jackson gave Maryland a 71-68 lead with 5:45 to play in the game and the Terps never trailed again.

A free throw by Cowan gave Maryland a 78-72 lead with 14 seconds to go but the Bison would not go away and a three-pointer from Stephen Brown made the score 80-78 with two seconds left in the game.

A foul by Morsell gave Bucknell one last shot to win with one second to play but their final shot was off the mark and the Terps were finally able to chest bump and high-five celebrating their amazing comeback and stunning victory over a good Bucknell squad.

Bucknell shot 65 percent in the first half and made seven of 10 threes. Meanwhile, Maryland shot 40 percent and was o for five on three pointers.

But in the second half Maryland’s defense rose to the occasion and held the Bison to 28 points on 29 percent shooting and three of 14 from beyond the arc.

Their offense also improved in the second half as they hit 15 of 27 shots (56 percent) and four of eight of their threes.

Maryland made 20 of 25 free throws and Bucknell was eight of 11 from the charity stripe. The Terps out rebounded the Bison 35 to 24.

Bucknell was led in scoring by Brown who had 23 points and six rebounds and Zach Thomas who finished with 17 points, five rebounds and four assists. Nana Foulland had a team-high seven rebounds and 15 points in a losing effort for the (0-4) Bison.