COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Virginia Tech opened the game with a 12-0 run, got a career-high 24 points from Erick Green and coasted to a 74-57 victory over Maryland on Thursday night.
Malcolm Delaney scored 19 points for the Hokies, who never trailed in winning for only the fourth time in 20 games at Maryland. Virginia Tech (12-5, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) has won eight of nine, seven by double figures.
Green, a sophomore guard, went 12 for 16 from the field and the Hokies shot 54 percent against the nation's sixth-ranked defense in field goal percentage.
The Terrapins (11-7, 1-3) couldn't recover from their awful start. Jordan Williams had 11 points and 11 rebounds to tie Len Elmore's school record of 12 straight double-doubles, but the sophomore forward made only one basket in the decisive first half.
Cliff Tucker led Maryland with 13 points and Adrian Bowie had 10.
A layup by Green put the Hokies up 53-36 with 14:32 left. After the Terrapins used four straight baskets by Tucker to close to 61-53 with 7:15 to go, a free throw by Victor Davila and a layup by Green began a 9-2 spree that put the game out of reach.
Terps coach Gary Williams unveiled a new starting lineup, and the results were disastrous. Freshman guard Pe'Shon Howard and Tucker replaced Bowie and Terrell Stoglin.
After the Hokies made their first four shots to take a 10-0 lead, Williams called timeout and promptly put Stoglin and Bowie into the game.
Bowie made Maryland's first basket, a 3-pointer. Minutes later, Bowie and Stoglin sank successive shots from beyond the arc to get the Terrapins to 17-13.
That's as close as Maryland would get.
Davila and Green made back-to-back dunks to spark a 9-2 spurt that made it 26-15, and a three-point play by Manny Atkins upped the margin to 12 points.
It was 40-29 at halftime.