At 17 minutes 40 seconds remaining in the second half the Terps claimed their first lead by two free throws by forward Landon Milbourne. (13 points on five of nine field-goal attempts)
UNCC answered with a basket of its own, but its pace and precision waned.
Their lack of a strong bench was exploited once they lost a key player who went down with an ugly knee injury.
Guard Charles Dewhurst was driving towards the basket, on the left side of the lane.
As he rose to the rim for a layup, he was fouled from behind, and landed awkwardly on his right knee with all of his weight. He dislocated his kneecap, and had to be helped from the court by several assistants. The 49ers could not regain their composure after this unfortunate turn of events.
Maryland’s shooting percentage from three-point range was 40.9 percent for the game.
They also capitalized on their fast break opportunities in the second half.
During their 19-2 run that capped off the unraveling of the 49ers offensive execution, Maryland settled down and started to find open shots.
An uneven showing for the Terrapins did not hurt them against this non-conference opponent, but the fact remains the big boys in the ACC, have more than one or two weapons with which to hurt you.
In his postgame interview, Gary Williams sounded off about this very topic in dramatic fashion.
“Do what you do well, which is play defense and try to break some balls loose, and we didn’t do that early,” chirped Williams. “Once we did get the emotion up a little bit I thought we were a pretty good basketball team for about the middle 25 minutes or so. That’s the effort we will need every game as time goes by.”
Notes
UNC-Charlotte guard Rashad Coleman had 21 points and was four for seven from three-point range.
The only other player to register points in double figures was guard Dijuan Harris with 15 points scored respectively.
For the first time this season, Maryland instituted a zone defensive scheme.
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