Terps Win Big in Exhibition
Maryland beat Randolph-Macon College 88-44 on Thursday in their exhibition contest, as they should have. Maryland also played without freshman big man Bruno Fernando, but Mark Turgeon believes he will be ready for Stony Brook next Friday. The Terps got off slow, but eventually knocked off the rust and showed how big and physical they can play.
Darryl Morsell stole the show in his first college matchup, as he got Terrapin fans on their feet with a couple athletic dunks in transition. Morsell finshed with 14 points and 3 boards off the bench as Maryland’s bench tallied an impressive 38 points on the night. Sean Obi contributed heavily with a solid 8 points and 8 rebounds on the night as well. Nickens added 7 on 3-6 shooting, and Joshua Tomaic added 4 points and 3 rebounds. Walk-ons Travis Valmon and Alex Tostado also dropped a bucket a piece, Tostado with a 3 and Valmon with a put back that got the building electric. Anthony Cowan led the way again with 17 points and 3 assists. Kevin Huerter had 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists as he looks to be the most consistent and well rounded player for this team. Justin Jackson bounced back after a rough “Secret Scrimmage” as he added 10 points, 6 boards and 3 assists as well. Turgeon started junior Ivan Bender at the four and played a very solid ball game for the Terps on both ends of the floor. Bender finished with 6 points, the team high in boards at 9, and knocked down all 4 free throws he took. Michal Cekovsky got the start at center and also recorded 6 points including a huge ally-oop jam.
In the first half, Randolph-Macon stuck with the Terps and were still in it. Obviously being a D3 team, they had no business winning against Maryland. With that being said, Randolph-Macon played hard against the Terrapins and gave them a good warmup right before the start of the season.
Maryland scored a total of 88 points playing without Fernando. Fernando was considered by many to be the starting center for the Terps, but has battled with a small injury that has kept him out of action for the past few weeks. Another Terp that has dealt with injuries in his career is Cekovsky. If Cekovsky can stay healthy, and Fernando comes back soon, Maryland will have two offensive big men that they have struggled to maintain for a long time. Cekovsky has improved mightily on offense, says Turgeon, and Fernando was a force down low in high school. Fernando will only add on to the solid bench squad that Turgeon has built.
Maryland will play Stony Brook on Friday, November 10th at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in New York. The Terps showed signs of improvement this off season, even without Melo Trimble, in only the first exhibition of the season. The new era of Terrapin hoops is finally upon us and it looks bright.
