Donta Scott looked down court, heaving the ball to Julian Reese who was in wide open space on the opposite end. Reese, Maryland’s point-leader, went up for the unattested dunk to send his team up by 30 as nearly an entire second half remained.
The 8-4 Maryland Terrapins returned to College Park on Thursday to defend their home court against the 1-12 Coppin State Eagles for their final in-conference game of the season.
Coppin State’s only win happened nearly a month ago— an 89-70 finish over UMBC. Having lost five straight since then, its most recent result was 48-87 against No. 20 James Madison. The Terps on the other hand entered the matchup holding a four-game win streak, most recently beating UCLA 69-60 with over half of their points coming from Jahmir Young who finished with a career-high 37.
Despite appearing with the team in pre-game warm ups, Young was ruled out prior to tip-off with the flu. Taking his place in the starting lineup was guard Jahari Long, who earned his first start as a Terp alongside DeShawn Harris-Smith and forwards Jordan Geronimo, Julian Reese and Donta Scott. For Coppin State, guards Aa’reyon Munir-Jones and Greg Spurlock started things off with forwards Toto Fagbenle, Luka Tekavcic and Justin Winston.
Maryland earned its 19th consecutive win at home, beating Coppin State 75-53 in a lop-sided performance.
“I think the guys came out very professional,” head coach Kevin Willard said during his post-game presser. “We didn’t practice great yesterday, you never do after three days off, but they respected Coppin [State] and wanted to come out and play well.”
Toto Fagbenle made the first two baskets of the game for Coppin State, but Maryland responded with 11 unanswered points over the span of nearly just four minutes to establish a multi-possession lead. Jahari Long proved himself a starter by accounting for five of those points with a jumper and three-pointer.
The Terps doubled the Eagles’ points less than ten minutes into the first half as Coppin State hit a lengthy scoring drought that featured seven straight turnovers. Despite having a quiet, one-point game against UCLA, Julian Reese marked himself an asset by accounting for a third of Maryland’s 24 points in the first half of the period.
Maryland’s 19-4 scoring run ended just before halftime with Coppin State making three straight baskets, two of which were a three-pointer and layup from Greg Spurlock. The Terps headed to the locker room up 20 with the score at 38-18.
Point-leaders for Maryland in the first half included Julian Reese (14 points) above DeShawn Harris-Smith and Jahari Long who tied with seven. For Coppin State, only three players accounted for the team’s 18 points. Greg Spurlock and Justin Winston each tied with seven, and Toto Fagbenle remained at four.
Jahari Long started the second half the same way he started the first, this time with a three-pointer and layup to keep the offensive momentum rolling for the Terps. A pair of back-to-back dunks from Julian Reese would follow, extending Maryland’s lead to 30 with just under 17 minutes left in the game.
“I think we responded well,” Reese said post-game when asked about Jahmir Young’s absence. “Sometimes it’s good for other guys to step up and get that confidence, especially heading into conference play.”
Maryland found most of its starters on the bench for the majority of the second half aside from Long and Donta Scott. Greg Spurlock and Justin Winston consistently kept the points coming for Coppin State, but Maryland’s lead continued to fluctuate between 20 and 30 points.
Coppin State’s chance for a comeback was greatest with eight minutes remaining as the Eagles’ managed a 10-point run to finally break the 20-point deficit. Maryland missed nine straight shots in this duration, but the streak broke with another layup from Jahari Long.
“I found out I would be starting yesterday at practice when Jahmir [Young] didn’t come because he was sick,” Long said in his presser. “So I was just focused on being competent and leading the team in the right direction.”
Despite the last-ditch effort, Maryland still held a 22-point lead when the clock hit zero.
The final point-leaders for Maryland were Julian Reese (18 points, 10 rebounds), Jahari Long (16 points, career-high) and Donta Scott (12 points). For Coppin State, Justin Winston led with 19 points, followed by Greg Spurlock (13 points) and Toto Fagbenle (12 points).
Maryland hosts No. 1 Purdue next Tuesday in College Park with hopes of extending its win streak at home to 20.
