The 23rd-ranked Maryland Terrapins got defensive in their 55-41 victory over the Loyola of Chicago Ramblers much to the delight of the Baltimore fans at Royal Farms Arena.
The Terps (8-2) defense held the Ramblers to 33 percent shooting from the floor including going two for 14 on three-pointers.
They also caused 19 turnovers and had 13 blocked shots.
Their offense was led by guard Anthony Cowan Jr. who scored 17 points, dished out four assists and collected three rebounds.
Freshman Aaron Wiggins was a spark off the bench scoring 10 points and corralling six rebounds.
The Terp’s Bruno Fernando ended the game with eight points, five rebounds and four blocks.
Neither team had much offense early as the Terp’s took a 24-20 lead at the break.
They opened the second half on a 15-7 run and took a 39-27 lead on a layup by Wiggins with 8:35 to go in the game.
The lead ballooned to 17 at 44-27 with seven minutes to go and the only suspense was whether or not Loyola of Chicago would score 40 points.
Maryland shot 45 percent from the floor but only made eight of their 25 shots from beyond the arc.
They were outrebounded 33-29 as their post players, Fernando and Jalen Smith were limited in their time on the court by foul trouble.
Loyola of Chicago was led by Cameron Krutwig who tallied 12 points and collected eight rebounds. Marques Townes had nine points and snagged five rebounds in a losing effort for the (5-5) Ramblers.
