COLLEGE PARK — Thanksgiving break arrived a day early for Maryland men’s basketball.
Offered the chance to feast on an outmatched opponent, the Terps did not turn down the invitation as they sprinted to a 23-point advantage at halftime and waltzed to a 91-67 thumping of visiting Bucknell on Wednesday evening before an announced 10,744 fans at Xfinity Center.
Maryland rained down a season-high 12 3-pointers in 31 attempts – a .387 percentage that is the offense’s second-best rate so far. Graduate student small forward Selton Miguel and junior small forward Tafara Gapare set the pace with three 3-pointers each.
“We emphasize a lot of 3s in practice,” Miguel said of the offense’s accuracy from the perimeter. “We tell each other, ‘Anytime you’re open, be confident and shoot.’ So there was a lot of space open, especially the three. So just taking advantage of it.”
Gapare, a 6-foot-9, 215-pound Georgia Tech transfer, came off the bench to lead the team with 19 points (12 in the second half) on 7 of 9 shooting, including 3 of 4 behind the 3-point line, and grabbed six rebounds. Freshman center Derik Queen, a Baltimore resident, accumulated 15 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists, senior power forward Julian Reese, a Randallstown native and St. Frances graduate, dropped 10 of his 14 points in the first half, and Miguel, a South Florida transfer, scored all 13 of his points in the first 20 minutes and collected two rebounds and two assists to propel the Terps (6-1) to their third consecutive win and good vibes heading into the Thanksgiving holiday.
Gapare’s showing might have been the most startling. Through the team’s first six games, he had scored a total of 16 points on 4 of 9 shooting, including 1 of 3 from 3-point range, and finished just one point shy of his career high set against Penn State on Dec. 16, 2023.
Gapare said he didn’t realize how well he was playing until he sank his second 3-pointer midway through the second half.
“After the second three, I kind of felt a lot of confidence in myself,” he said. “I didn’t really try to force things. Just let the ball come to me, let the shots come to me.”
In addition to its 3-point prowess, Maryland pounced on the Bison’s poor ball security. Bucknell turned the ball over 20 times, and the Terps converted those miscues into 22 points.
Coach Kevin Willard said those conversions fueled an offense that entered the game averaging 84.5 points, which was tied for the eighth-best single-season mark in program history. The Terps have already scored 80 or more points four times this season compared with last year’s squad that reached that many five times.
“Converting on turnovers has been big, and I think that’s given us a chance,” he said. “We’re in the 90s, 100s. We’ve been able to score because we’ve been able to convert from our turnovers.”
Unlike Sunday’s comeback 76-75 victory over Villanova, Maryland made sure it avoided any dramatics with the Bison (4-4). The former raced to a 15-2 lead in the first 5:05 and a 25-7 advantage in the first 9:22.
Bucknell didn’t help its cause by diving into droughts of 3:43 and 2:58 during the Terps’ runs. The Bison also committed 12 turnovers in the first half that Maryland converted into 16 points.
The Terps’ offensive eruption in the first half was aided by remarkable efficiency from behind the 3-point line. They made 52.9% of their long-distance shots (9 of 17), and the nine 3-pointers were the most it had scored in a first half this season.
Maryland’s biggest lead of the first half occurred when Reese nailed a short jumper to lift them into a 51-26 advantage with 44 seconds left. A layup by Bucknell senior point guard Josh Bascoe trimmed the deficit to 51-28 heading into halftime.
A layup by senior small forward Pip Ajayi and a 3-pointer by junior power forward Ruot Bijiek helped the Bison narrow the gap to 16 at 58-42 with 15:28 left in the second half. But Gapare scored 10 consecutive points and Reese added a pair of free throws to inflate the Terps’ advantage to 28 and cruise to the victory.
Bijiek led Bucknell with 20 points, four rebounds and two assists, and Bascoe accrued 10 points, six rebounds and five assists. But the Bison missed senior Ian Motta – a starting small forward who entered the game averaging 11.8 points and 4.3 rebounds but left after appearing to suffer a right ankle injury just three minutes into the game – and lost for the second game in a row and the fourth time in their last six.
Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at eklee@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.
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Alcorn State at Maryland
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