No. 3 Maryland Cruises To 100-65 Win Over Ohio State

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) -- Maryland had no intention of allowing its first Big Ten defeat of the season to become part of a rare losing streak.

So when Ohio State came to town, the third-ranked Terrapins were in serious bounce-back mode.

Robert Carter Jr. scored a career-high 25 points, Rasheed Sulaimon added a season-best 22 and Maryland rolled to a 100-65 victory on Saturday.

Diamond Stone scored 15 points for the Terrapins (16-2, 5-1), who rebounded from a defeat Tuesday night at Michigan by reaching the 100-point mark for the first time since 2012.

"I'm really happy for the guys because it was a tough loss and we hadn't played well and everybody starts to talk about you," Terps coach Mark Turgeon said. "So to go out and really put a performance together is good for them."

In this one, Maryland led by 18 at halftime, 63-33 with 16 minutes remaining and 77-37 with 11 minutes to go.

"The Michigan game, we didn't compete at the highest level," Carter said. "We had times in the game when we slipped up and they made shots. (Today) we locked in the whole game."

Turgeon said the loss to Michigan "probably helped us win the way we did today."

The Terrapins haven't dropped two straight since the 2013-14 season.

Playing his first season at Maryland after transferring from Georgia Tech, Carter went 10 for 13 from field and made all four of his 3-point attempts. The 6-foot-9 junior eclipsed his previous career high of 21 points midway through the second half.

"What Carter did was incredible," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said.

Sulaimon, a transfer from Duke, made nine of 10 field goal tries and contributed six assists.

Keita Bates-Diop scored 15 points for Ohio State (12-7, 4-2). The Buckeyes came in having won eight of nine, including four in the conference and an upset of Kentucky.

In this one, very little went right for Ohio State -- especially in the second half. The Buckeyes went 1 for 13 from the field immediately after the break and allowed Maryland to connect on 11 of 15 shots. That's how an 18-point lead expanded to 42 points with 10 minutes left.

Turgeon emptied his bench with 7 minutes remaining and the score 91-47.

"I told Mark after the game, we didn't do a whole lot to stop them," Matta said. "I've been doing this for a while and that was one of the best performances I've seen just in terms of them making shots and having their way with us."

Maryland shot 63 percent from the floor, went 11 for 21 from 3-point range and finished with a 35-30 advantage on the boards.

"They were driving, kicking and banging shots and we just couldn't stop it," Matta said.

Maryland scored a season-high 48 first-half points, going 19 for 30 from the field -- including 7 for 10 from beyond the arc.

Ohio State hung with the Terrapins in the early going, but things went south for the Buckeyes after a three-point play by Stone launched a 13-4 run that included successive baskets by Jake Layman.

It was 34-26 before Sulaimon drove the hoop for a basket and Jared Nickens nailed a 3-pointer to spark a 14-4 spurt to end of the half.

A HELPING HAND

Ohio State: The Buckeyes finished with 13 turnovers compared to only seven assists.

Maryland: The Terrapins had a season-high 23 assists, nine by Melo Trimble and five by Sulaimon.

"The best part is Melo trusts his teammates so he doesn't force anything," Turgeon said.

TIP-INS

Ohio State: For only the third time in 19 games, the Buckeyes did not have a better shooting percentage than their opponent. ... JaQuan Lyle came in ranked second in the NCAA among freshmen with 95 assists. He added four to that total. ... The Buckeyes did not shoot a free throw in the first half and had only five assists before the break.

Maryland: The Terrapins had 14 assists in the first half, six by Trimble, who did not score a point during the opening 20 minutes. He finished with eight points. ... Maryland ended a three-game losing streak against Ohio State, including a defeat in Columbus last season. ... The Terps improved to 19-5 in Big Ten play since joining the conference last season.

UP NEXT

Ohio State travels to No. 24 Purdue on Thursday.

Maryland hosts Northwestern on Tuesday.

(Copyright 2016 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)