Maryland loses 71-44 to No. 22 Virginia

First-year coach Mark Turgeon was feeling pretty good when his Maryland team went into the locker room at halftime tied with No. 22 Virginia.

The way he saw it, Mike Scott was carrying the Cavaliers but looking "exhausted," and Terrell Stoglin of the Terrapins was almost matching him point for point, and making some crazy shots.

Soon after the second half started, Turgeon saw how wrong he was.

Scott scored 11 second-half points to finish with 25, his highest total in an Atlantic Coast Conference game, and the Cavaliers took command with a 16-0 run on the way to a 71-44 victory Saturday.

"We were much better in the first half than we've been," Turgeon said.

And after that?

"I thought we looked disinterested in terms of being tough on defense and rebounding and our execution was poor," he said.

The Terps managed just five field goals in the second half and scored 13 points.

"We just couldn't get into our offense throughout the game," Sean Mosely said after missing all four of his shots. "In the second half, we couldn't execute, we couldn't get a stop, we couldn't get it rolling as a team."

The Cavaliers had just seven turnovers and made Maryland everything it got on offense. In the first half, that was seven 3-pointers, several against good defense. In the second half? Very little.

Virginia coach Tony Bennett had no problem with the 3s Maryland made, either, noting that on almost every one, the shooter had a hand in his face.

"If they can make those all game, well, there's not any defense that can stop that," he told his team, encouraging them to maintain the intensity on defense.

Virginia scored 16 consecutive points in the second half after Maryland hit a jumper to start the half, and the Terrapins went 8:18 before notching another point. They finished 5 for 24 after halftime, 0-for-6 on 3-pointers and shot 26.9 percent for the game.

"We emphasized playing 40 minutes of our defense," guard Sammy Zeglinski said. "Imposing our will, we would say. ... I thought if we kept imposing our will and wearing them down, they would start missing some shots and we would turn it into offense."

Malcolm Brogdon added 14 points and Zeglinski 11 for the Cavaliers (20-6, 7-5), who ended their first two-game losing streak of the season.

Terrell Stoglin scored 14 points, all in the first half, and Nick Faust had 13 for Maryland (15-11, 5-7), but Turgeon followed Bennett's lead late and pulled his primary players and inserted walk-ons.

"I'd just had enough," Turgeon said. "Selfishness, not boxing out, not defending."

It probably stung more seeing the Cavaliers doing all those things.

"I thought they executed, they defended their tails off and they played with more toughness," he said. "They were clearly the team that wanted it more today. ... We had a two-point lead in the second half and then it was all them. Total domination."

Maryland broke a 31-all halftime tie on a jumper by James Padgett to start the second half. By the time they scored again, on a putback by Ashton Pankey, it was 47-35 and the Cavaliers were showing no signs of letting up.

Meanwhile, Joe Harris hit two jumpers with his broken left hand heavily padded, Scott scored the next seven points, Zeglinski made a 3 and Harris capped the 16-0 burst with a jumper.

Even after Pankey's putback dunk broke the Terps' scoreless drought, the Cavaliers scored eight of the next 10 points, delighting a sold out John Paul Jones Arena.

Scott, whose point total was his career high in a conference game, dominated early. At one point, he had outscored the Terps 14-13, and he had 10 during a 15-7 run that gave the Cavaliers a 22-13 lead. Then Stoglin and the Terps heated up, scoring 13 of the next 15.

Stoglin hit three 3-pointers in the burst, and Maryland was 7 for 13 from behind the arc in the half. That kept them in the game, but they missed all six of their shots from deep in the second half, and finished 14 for 52 overall, just 26.9 percent.