Terps Halt SSU Men

January 2, 2008
COLLEGE PARK, Md- Maryland placed four players in double figures and held Savannah State to shoot 32.6 percent from the floor in a 75-48 win over the Tigers at the Comcast Center before a crowd of 17,950.

James Gist, Bambale Osby and Greivis Vasquez all scored 13 points while Eric Hayes had 12 for the Terps as they improved to 8-6.

Savannah State (7-12) was led by Joseph Flegler. The Washington D.C. native returned home to score 13 points. "He is a hometown guy so I'm sure he was a little more energetic than usual out there. He made a few plays that got him in trouble in the first half, but he probably feels pretty good about how he played by the end," said SSU coach Horace Broadnax. Flegler went 4-for-4 from the floor and hit all four of his free throw attempts.

"It was good to get a lot of guys out there to get some minutes. We're getting better, there's no doubt about it, and we're working hard toward that, so we'll see where that takes us. It will only get tougher from here on out, so we'll see what we can do," said Maryland coach Gary Williams.

Lazarius Coleman opened the game with a 3-pointer to give the Tigers the early lead but UM went on a 15-0 run to grab a 12 point lead. SSU cut their deficit to eight points but only to have the Terps score the next 11 points and take a 28-7 lead with 7:49 left in the half.

"The guys were a little bit nervous and sometimes it is frustrating, but we have to prepare differently. In these types of games, if we don't get out early, it can get ugly," stated Broadnax.

Savannah State drew within 17 but Maryland scored six straight points to increased their lead to 23 and went into the half with a 40-19 advantage.

Maryland used a 9-0 early in the second half to up their lead to 32 points. and with 10:55 remaining the Terps were ahead 63-27.

Trailing 69-33 with 8:04 left, Flegler and Anthony Jones scored four points each as Savannah State put together a 13-0 run to close the gap to 23.