Maryland Surges Past Lehigh at Xfinity Center

By: Ethan Hennessy

College Park Maryland

Maryland and Lehigh took the court on Tuesday night in a game that only came to fruition about 48 hours prior. Maryland was supposed to host in-state rival Loyola MD, however, due to covid issues in the Greyhounds program Loyola was unable to play. Fellow Patriot League team Lehigh stepped up to take their place. Initially, the game was very evenly matched. The two teams went back and forth for the first ten minutes of the game. As Maryland started to pull away the Mountain Hawks always had a response. Late in the half Lehigh went cold having a 1-7 shooting stretch which allowed Maryland to take a 37-34 lead into halftime. The terps had a significant 21-10 rebounding advantage, but Lehigh was able to keep it close thanks to limiting their turnovers to only three.

Eric Ayala and Donta Scott of Maryland provided an early second-half surge for the terrapins. Ayala scored a game-high 20 points thanks to three three-pointers and a pair of coast-to-coast steals.

Fatts Russell Maryland’s grad transfer point guard from Rhode Island had to be helped off the court with about eight minutes left in the game. He went down holding his knee after colliding into Mountain Hawks big man Nic Lynch. Maryland said Russell is questionable for the next game vs. Brown. Maryland continued to widen the margin late, and interim head coach Danny Manning subbed the walk-ons in during the final minute as Maryland secured a 76-55 victory. The win moved the terps to 7-4 on the season, and the loss dropped Lehigh to 1-10.