Terps women subdue Morgan State, 68-44
22-point third quarter helps Maryland surge to fifth straight win
Kaila Charles scored 18 points, Taylor Mikesell added 17 and No. 7 Maryland used a strong second half to beat Morgan State, 68-44, on Friday in the Puerto Rico Clasico tournament in Trujillo Alto.
In a nonconference matchup between Maryland-based teams, the Terps (5-0) led by only 28-22 at halftime before Mikesell scored 14 in a 22-point third quarter that pushed the margin to 15 points.
A three-point play by Charles made it 57-35 with 5:55 left, and Maryland coasted to the finish.
The Terrapins outscored the Bears 18-9 over the final 10 minutes.
“I thought we started the game slow and I think that's a credit to Morgan State,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “I thought they were the more aggressive team. Our team was challenged at halftime and I thought we had a great response in the second half.
“Stephanie Jones gave us a tremendous, consistent effort for 40 minutes and Taylor Mikesell gave us some great 3s in the second half. Kaila Charles got going. We are going to have to continue to step up and play a 40-minute game.”
Jones had 10 points and 11 rebounds for Maryland and Shakira Austin had 14 rebounds. The Terrapins finished with a 53-19 advantage on the boards. Puerto Rico Classico
Adreora Coleman scored 20 for the Bears (1-5), who lost to Georgia 60-33 in a first-round game.
It was another in a series of slow starts for Maryland. The Terps were coming an 85-61 win over No. 10 South Carolina, which took an early 18-6 lead before Maryland took control with a 39-8 run to halftime.
In this one, the Terrapins were 12 for 32 from the floor in the first half and 15 for 26 the rest of the way.
Morgan State hosts Central Connecticut State on Monday, while Maryland closes play in Puerto Rico today against Georgia (3-2).
Men
CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 93, COPPIN STATE 67: Christian Keeling notched a triple-double — the first in three decades for Charleston Southern — as he, Duncan LeXander and Deontaye Buskey combined for 63 points and the Buccaneers (4-2) surged away from the Eagles (0-7) in a Battle 4 Atlantis campus game at Wofford.
Scoring two points in the first half, Keeling added 18 more after the break, pulled down 11 rebounds and had 12 assists. He racked up six double-doubles in the 2016-17 season, but Friday's triple-double was only the second in Charleston Southern's history and first since Tony Fairley had 12 points, 22 assists and 10 steals on Feb. 9, 1987.
Keeling's 12 assists are a career high. LeXander made 6 of 7 shots from behind the 3-point arc and scored 23 points with eight boards for Charleston Southern (4-2), Buskey hit four 3-pointers, also scoring 20.
LeXander scored 17 and was 4for-4 from deep as the Buccaneers raced into halftime on a 17-4 run.
Dejuan Clayton led Coppin State with 16 points. The Eagles are on a 13-game skid going back to last season.
BOWIESTATE68, NEWBERRY56: The Bulldogs picked up their first win of the season, ending a five-game slide.
David Belle and Juwun Smith paced the Bulldogs with 14 and 11 points, respectively, and Saiquan Jamison pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds. Rinardo Perry added eight points while Keith Duffin, Jr. and Jamison chipped in seven points each.
Bowie State shot 46 percent from the field (23-of-50) and 62 percent (21-of-34) at the free throw line and the Bulldogs held a 43-31 rebound advantage.
Newberry (1-4) was led by Angelo Sales with 17 points to go along with a team-best seven rebounds and Marshall Lange tallied 11 points for the Wolves in the loss. The Wolves connected on 20-of-56 field goals (36 percent) and connected on 14-of-20 (70 percent) at the charity stripe.
The first half featured six ties and four lead changes as Newberry went into halftime with a 27-26 advantage.