By Megan Smedley

The Maryland Terrapins cruised to an easy victory over Maryland Eastern Shore 77-56 on Saturday night. Melo Trimble was nearly perfect hitting 5-6 from the field and sinking 4-4 of his free throws. He led the team with 18 points. Diamond Stone and Jared Nickens had 12 points each.

“I don’t ever tell Melo what to do unless it’s a bad shot,” said head coach Mark Turgeon. “He has a feel that you can’t teach. He knows when he needs to do it and when he doesn’t need to do it. And that’s what makes him who he is.”

Despite maintaining the lead throughout the first half, the Terps struggled offensively. Damonte Dodd got his third start of the year along with regular starters, Trimble, Sulaimon, Carter Jr., and Layman. Dodd won the tipoff and the game was on its way. Melo Trimble came out strong sinking a perfect three. Sulaimon threw the ball across the court for Layman to slam the dunk. The Terps struggled from the field the majority of the half. Maryland Eastern Shore’s zone defense proved to a problem for the Terps.

“Yeah they played zone…slowed us down…something we’re not used to,” said sophomore guard Melo Trimble.

At one point, the Terps were hitting only 35 percent. The Terps got out to a 14-point lead late in the half, but UMES finished on a 7-0 run. With 30 seconds left, Derrico Peck stole from Carter Jr. and ran away with the dunk, adding insult to injury. Rasheed Sulaimon missed all of his shots, even the threes he’s known to hit.

“My shot wasn’t really falling today but I thought I could impact the game in other various ways – defensively, as a leader, a floor general and just distributing the ball,” said guard, Rasheed Sulaimon.

Robert Carter Jr. also missed all of his shots from the field. Melo Trimble and Diamond Stone led the team with eight points at the half. The Terps were only shooting 42 percent from the field and 33 percent of their threes and only led 35-29 at the end of the half.

“I wasn’t worried,” said Turgeon. “I was disappointed the way we finished the half. You know, the turnover was my fault right before half. They knew I was disappointed. They were disappointed in themselves. They expect more out of themselves.”

Coming out in the second half, Maryland had a whole new source of energy. Trimble quickly doubled his first half stats, sinking three after three. Rasheed Sulaimon may not have been a huge scorer but he did have a career high today. Sulaimon had a career high ten assists. With under 12-minutes in the game, Sulaimon snaked his way through UMES, tossing it to Michal Cekovsky for the alley-oop.

“He [Sulaimon] likes to pass…you know…he makes winning plays,” said Turgeon.

“I thought he [Sulaimon] played for everyone else,” said Trimble. “He didn’t just think about himself.”

“When you got a lot of guys out there that can score the ball, shoot the ball like that, I feel like with my skillset, it’s perfectly conducive to getting people open,” said Sulaimon.

Sulaimon has a unique flare when it comes to passing, something his teammates appreciate.

“He throws a lot of…..not questionable passes but passes I wouldn’t,” said Trimble. “I know Coach Turgeon, if I would’ve thrown it, he’d be like ‘What? What are you doing?’”

“I think I’m a hell of a passer, said Sulaimon. “If I see something and I think I have the capability to get it there, no matter how small the window might be. But at the end of the day it just comes down to confidence.”

Jared Nickens sunk four three-pointers throughout the game. In the end, the Terps came out on top. They finished shooting 51 percent from the field, 48 percent of three-pointers, and 88 percent from the line. Maryland moves on to 9-1 on the season. Coach Turgeon believes there is still some improvement needed.

“We’re not clicking yet all the way offensively,” said Turgeon. “We at least need to get better at half-court offense. We’re pretty good in our secondary…but we have to get better at half-court. You know, get into plays quicker and execute.”

Because of finals and Christmas break, the team only has two games over the next two weeks. On Saturday, the team travels up to Baltimore where they will face off against Princeton. The team returns to College Park on Sunday, December 27 against Marshall.