Men's Basketball Southern Conference

Spartans Fall to Terrapins

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Senior forward Ben Stywall turned in his third straight double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds, but UNC Greensboro was no match for Maryland in a 97-63 loss to the Terrapins at the Greensboro Coliseum on Sunday afternoon.

UNCG also got 11 points from freshman Korey Van Dussen, while classmate Brian Cole scored 10 to match the career high he set against North Carolina State on Thursday.

Stywall's double-double was his fifth of the season. The Charlotte, N.C. native scored the bulk of his points at the free throw line, where he was 11-for-16. His three consecutive double-doubles, coming in the last seven days, came against three ACC squads - Wake Forest, NC State and Maryland. The 6-5 Stywall tallied 48 points and 38 rebounds (16.0 ppg, 12.7 rpg) during that span.

Greivis Vasquez scored a game-high 24 points to lead Maryland (9-4), which also got 22 from Landon Milbourne and 11 each from Adrian Bowie and Dino Gregory.

Despite getting off to a quick start, the Spartans (2-11) shot a season-worst 27.5 percent (19-for-69) from the floor for the game. The
Terps shot 54.5 percent from the floor (36-for-66).

Greivis scored nine of Maryland's first 13 points of the second half, helping the Terrapins stretch an 18-point halftime lead to a 25-point bulge at 65-40 just 2:28 into the second frame.

The Terps' lead swelled to as many as 39 at 90-51 with 5:43 to be played, but Van Dussen heated up in the game's closing minutes, scoring nine straight UNCG points in a two-minute span as the Spartans turned in a late 9-2 run.

Maryland shot 58.1 percent from the floor in the opening half, including making good on nine of its first 10 field goal attempts, but led just 20-16 with just under 14 minutes to play in opening half. UNCG forced five turnovers to that point to keep itself in the game, but Maryland used an 11-2 run to gain its first double-figure lead of the afternoon, 27-16, with 11:24 left before the break.

The Spartans scored on their next three possessions to get the deficit back to single digits, 29-22, capped off by a Cole jumper with 10:03 left in the opening stanza. UNCG kept the deficit under 10 for the next several minutes.

Maryland was about to take over, however, as Vasquez started an 8-0 Terrapin run with a pair of free throws and ended it with a fastbreak layup to push Maryland's lead to 15. The Terps would lead by at least 13 the rest of the half, taking a 52-34 lead into the locker room on Jordan Williams layups on consecutive possessions to end it.

The Terrapins dominated in the paint, holding a 58-8 scoring advantage on the afternoon. Maryland also had 28 fastbreak points to UNCG's seven.

The 34-point loss matched UNCG's largest of the season. The Spartans dropped their season-opener at then-No. 9 Duke on Nov.13, 96-62. The Spartans have played a total of six ACC squads during their nonconference slate, which concluded on Sunday. UNCG entered the day with an RPI strength of schedule ranking of No. 25 in the nation. UNCG is in the midst of playing five consecutive teams ranked in the RPI's Top 100 currentlly.

UNCG returns to conference play for the remainder of the season beginning Thursday when it hosts Wofford at the Greensboro Coliseum at 7 p.m.