Rodney Rice poured in a career-high 28 points off the bench on Friday as Maryland routed Mount St. Mary’s 86-52 in College Park, Md.
Rice finished 10-of-14 from the field, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range, and grabbed five rebounds. He set his previous career high of 17 points with Virginia Tech in an Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament second-round game in March 2023.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie added 13 points and hit 3 of 4 from long range for the Terrapins (2-0), who also got 11 points from Selton Miguel and nine points and 10 boards from Julian Reese.
Dallas Hobbs made all five of his 3-point tries and paced the Mountaineers (1-1) with 21 points. Dola Adebayo chipped in 11 points and five rebounds for Mount St. Mary’s, which beat Division III Notre Dame of Maryland 98-62 in its season opener on Monday.
Maryland committed just six turnovers and converted its 25 takeaways into 27 points.
Adebayo scored five early points as the Mountaineers sprung a 10-2 run before the Terrapins settled in. Two 7-0 runs helped put Maryland go ahead 22-16, and the hosts broke the game open after Javon Ervin’s 3-pointer pulled Mount St. Mary’s within three.
Rice scored 17 points — including a string of 10 straight for the Terrapins — to power a 29-3 run that propelled Maryland ahead 51-22 with 2:05 left in the first half. He added a 3-pointer and a layup in the final minute to single-handedly match the Mountaineers’ point total in the half as the Terrapins led 58-26 at the break.
Maryland cruised through the second half, taking its biggest lead of the night at 40 points as Miguel’s layup made it 79-39 with 8:23 to go. The
The Terrapins put 10 players in the scoring column as coach Kevin Willard emptied his bench in the final minutes.
Maryland made 28 field goals to Mount St. Mary’s 17 and outscored the Mountaineers 27-4 in transition.
Hobbs scored 18 of his points in the second half.
–Field Level Media
