The Maryland Terrapins used a balanced offensive attack to beat the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 68-59 at the Rutgers Athletic Center.
All five Maryland starters finished in double figures.
Guard Eric Ayala led the way with 14 points. His teammate Aaron Wiggins had a double-double of 13 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
Terps Hakim Hart and senior Darryl Morsell finished with 12 points and Donta Scott scored 11 points to go along with seven rebounds.
In the first half the game was tied at 16-16 with 8:42 to go before the break.
Maryland then ended the half on a 12-4 run taking a 28-20 halftime advantage.
The Terrapins led the entire second half but Rutgers cut their lead to 47-41 with 7:37 to go in the contest.
Morsell responded with back to back baskets stretching the lead back out to 51-41 and they held on improving to (14-10, 8-9 Big Ten).
Maryland shot 47 percent from the field while holding the Scarlet Knights to 38 percent shooting from the floor.
Neither team did well from three point range with the Terps making 30 percent of their shots (6-20) while holding Rutgers to 23 percent (5-22) from beyond the arc.
Maryland made 18 of 28 free throws while the Scarlet Knights were 12 of 14 from the charity stripe.
Both teams ended with 32 rebounds.
Maryland shared the rock ending with 12 assists on 22 made baskets.
Besides holding Rutgers to under 60 points, Maryland’s defense caused 14 turnovers including nine steals.
Rutgers was led in scoring by Jacob Young who ended with 19 points. Geo Baker added 12 points and eight rebounds in a losing effort for the (12-9, 8-9) Scarlet Knights.
