By Eddie Hobbs
Maryland (5-1) traveled to the sunshine state over Thanksgiving break to take part in the Emerald Coast Classic, and lost to St. Bonaventure (3-1) in the opening round 63-61 in a hard-fought battle.
Maryland hoped to cool off its turnover issues, but failed to do so under the southern sun. The Bonnies defensive pressure frustrated the Terps and they could not get into their groove early.
Maryland had 20 turnovers against the Bonnies and did not get many of its shooters involved in the opening 20 minutes. Maryland was shooting just 10 percent from beyond the three-point line in the first half on 1-of-10 shooting.
One area where Maryland is thriving this season is rebounding, and that did not slow down against St. Bonaventure. The Terps held the Bonnies to just 12 rebounds in the first half and 29 over the course of the whole game, as Maryland pulled down 36 in the game.
Michal Cekovsky and Ivan Bender kept Maryland in the game early on. The pair of big men combined for 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the first half. Kevin Huerter, one of the up-and-coming sophomores for head coach Mark Turgeon, struggled all night and was held to five points on 2-9 shooting.
The Terps entered the half with a slim 31-30 lead, trying to find answers on how to get going on offense.
After scoring just 11 points in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, Maryland caught fire, and went on a 7-0 run juiced by two three pointers from Anthony Cowan and Huerter. Maryland held a 47-40 lead over St. Bonaventure and led by as much as eight in the second half.
The Bonnies would not go away easily, and made a slew of layups to bring the game 53-51 with four minutes remaining.
With under a minute to go in the game and everything tied at 59, Matt Mobley missed a layup, and it appeared as if Maryland would have the ball. The referee then called a loose ball foul on Darryl Morsell to give the Bonnies two shots at the line and the lead 61-59.
After Cowan was fouled and knocked down two shots at the line Maryland needed a stop on defense with 34 seconds remaining. Courtney Stockard dribbled out the clock and drove into the paint to meet Fernando, where he floated a layup over the freshman for the game-winning bucket.
Maryland needed to go the length of the court to either take the lead or tie the game, but Cowan was tripped up at midcourt as time expired and the Terps dropped its first game of the season.
Maryland will take on New Mexico in the loser’s bracket at 4 p.m. to finish out the Florida road trip. It will then make the trip up to Syracuse to play the Orange’s legendary zone defense.
