Maryland men's basketball extends home win streak by taking down the Rattlers
Courtesy of University of Maryland Athletics
The Maryland Terrapins extended their win streak to 12 over non-conference opponents against the Florida A&M Rattlers at Xfinity Center Monday night. Maryland also made historic feats by completing their third game by winning by 20 or more points. The final score was 84-53.
Slow and steady starts are a part of Maryland’s offense but against the Rattlers, they struck fast. They jumped out to a 15-2 lead early in the first half.
Julian Reese finished with a season and team high of 21 points and nine rebounds, just one rebound shy of a double-double. This was the third time since the 1999-2000 season that three different Terps notched 20 or more points. Derik Queen finished with 22 points against Manhattan and Rodney Rice finished with 28 against Mount St. Mary’s.
“There is a little bit of a learning curve getting guys to understand how unselfish Juilan is, which he has been really unselfish,” said head coach Kevin Willard.
Selton Miguel continued his hot streak and finished with 14 points, a season high for the fifth year from Angola.
On the other end of the ball, the Rattlers extended their losing streak to three. Tyler Shirley finished with 10 points, two assists, and three turnovers. Shirley was also the only player to reach double digit points for the team.
The Rattlers struggled down the stretch of the first half to find the rim, going almost eight minutes without scoring. The basket to break the drought was laid in by Sterling Young at the 2:36 mark. Young is the Rattlers’ top scorer, averaging 15.5 points a game but had a quiet night against the Terps by capturing only five points.
Milton Matthews and Shaqir O’Neal both scored nine points. However, Shirley and O’Neal each had five defensive rebounds.
Even though Matthews did not have a star-studded night, this game was a homecoming for him and first-year head coach of the Rattlers, Patrick Crarey II. Both grew up in the DMV area. Matthews is from District Heights and Crarey calls Washington, D.C., home.
This was only the second meeting between the two schools overall. The last meeting between the two teams was Nov. 12, 2006. Maryland won that matchup by a similar score, 93-54.
But, for Shirley, despite the loss, he reflected on what it was like to play at XFINITY Center for the first time.
“It was everything I ever asked for,” said Shirley, “I’m just blessed for the opportunity to be able to play on this big of a stage.”
Even though they were far from home, FAMU turned out a crowd of 140 for their team.
FAMU used to be in the Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference which included other historically black colleges and universities like Howard and Norfolk. Andrea Turk, a human resources director from Largo, Maryland, helped coordinate attendance for FAMU alumni that live in the Washington, D.C., area.
“Tonight was really special for us because we’re playing the University of Maryland,” Turk said. “Whether you lose or draw, our alum are gonna show up and show out for everything.”
The Terps will take on No. 15 Marquette in the Xfinity Center on Friday at 7 p.m.