No. 6 Maryland extends win streak to four, defeats Fairfield 74-55

Feature photo courtesy of Maryland Athletics

No. 6 Maryland (4-0) found itself in another tough battle Tuesday night as the visiting Fairfield Stags held their own with the No. 6 team in the country for much of the game.

While the Terps found some early success running their full-court press and applying pressure, it left them susceptible to open Fairfield jumpers shots.

Coming into the game shooting a lackluster 27 percent from three, Fairfield found its stroke. The Stags opened the game shooting 4-of-6 from downtown and only trailing Maryland 13-12.

Fairfield finished the night shooting 48 percent from 3-point range.

The Terps were only up by eight with about 14 minutes remaining in the game. A dominant second half from sophomore forward Jalen Smith and two key performances off the bench from sophomore forward Ricky Lindo Jr. and sophomore guard Eric Ayayla allowed the Terps to pull away and defeat the Stags 77-54.

The victory marks the sixth-consecutive season Maryland has won its first four games.

Outside of its exceptional 3-point shooting, Fairfield had a tough outing against the Terps’ defense, shooting a subpar percentage from the field and committing 16 turnovers.

“I thought our defense was really really good,” head coach Mark Turgeon said. “They made some tough shots to shoot 35 percent, so our defense was great.”

Lindo Jr. came off the bench and was all over the place, finishing tough shots at the rim and being a disruptive force on the defensive end.

He had a perfect outing on offense, scoring 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field, adding seven rebounds and an assist.

“Once Coach Turgeon told me what I need to do and what he wants me to do, especially executing tonight, it really feels good,” Lindo Jr. said. “It makes me want to do it for the rest of the season.”

Lindo Jr. only played nine minutes against Rhode Island last week, and head coach Mark Turgeon said he told the 6’8 forward that he did not play that much because of his poor body language on the court. When he would make a mistake, Lindo Jr. would have a tendency to put his head down and lose track of the next play.

Turgeon attributed Lindo Jr.’s improved performance to his improved body language.

“Once he changed [his body language] because he’s so hard on himself, he becomes a better player,” Turgeon said.

Ayala also provided some energy off the bench, coming in and hitting two first-half 3-pointers that helped Maryland extend its lead and build momentum going into halftime.

Ayala finished the night with 13 points and three rebounds.

After Fairfield battled back and cut their halftime deficit of 14 down to eight, Jalen Smith asserted his dominance and took over.

Scoring nine of his 17 points in the second-half, Smith looked aggressive and energized as he aggressively finishing through contact in the paint.

Coming out of a time-out, Smith brought the crowd to its feet after he caught a beautiful lob from freshman guard Hakim Hart and threw down a monstrous two-handed dunk. This put the Terps up 16 with a little under eight minutes left and sucked the remaining life out of the Stags.

Smith finished the night with 17 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.

It was a special night for senior guard Anthony Cowan.

A first-half 3-pointer marked his 1,425th career point, putting him in the top 20 of Maryland’s all-time scoring list. He passed James Gist’s 1414 career points. After dishing out five assists Tuesday night, Cowan now just needs two more to pass Dutch Morley at No. 9 on the Terps’ all-time assists list.

Maryland will host George Mason on Nov. 22 at Xfinity Center at 7 p.m.