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With less than two minutes to go into the first half, Maryland’s men’s basketball appeared to continue to strengthen their massive lead over Saint Peter’s.
Aaron Wiggins drove hard in the lane before turning and kicking Hakim Hart out of the three-point line. The second-year goaltender had already knocked down three trebles at this point, so Peacocks goaltender Dallas Watson pulled away from him.
A subtle faux-pomp from Hart got his man off the ground, allowing him to take the defenseman’s foot and stroke a long two, setting a new career high for the Philly native in his first career start for the Terps.
“We did a good job finding it, and we played backwards and we did a great job with it,” said head coach Mark Turgeon. “We want him to chase his shot because if he shoots like that and people run at him, he can play for himself and for others. He’s a great passer, he has a good idea of the game.
Maryland rode Hart’s hot hand all afternoon, deftly sending the Peacocks 90-57 to go 4-0 on the season.
Hart led all scorers with 33 points on 11 of 13 shots and a 5 of 7 three-point clip, scoring the most points scored in a game by a Terp since Diamond Stone’s 39-point performance against Penn State in 2015. He also added four steals and three rebounds, finishing with a +34 game record in the 28 minutes he was on the ground.
“Just by all the coaches who say before the game, ‘Be ready, be confident and just shoot the ball. It just gave me the confidence to come out and score, ”Hart said.
Maryland assembled another balanced team offense, with four players scoring in double digits in Hart, Eric Ayala (12), Donta Scott (14) and Jairus Hamilton (15).
The start of Maryland’s tilt on Friday afternoon with the Peacocks was marked by yet another new starting lineup, with Turgeon choosing to use a different starting five in each of the team’s first four games of the season. .
This time around, Wiggins gave way to Hart, who many called a potential candidate for the Terps ahead of the season. However, Turgeon noted after the game that an elbow injury suffered by Wiggins in training was the reason he was leaving the bench and expected to return to the starting lineup in the future.
Hart’s first year, however, didn’t inspire much confidence for the 6’6 guard. A three-star rookie from Philadelphia’s Roman Catholic High School, Hart played 18 games for the Terps last season, but averaged just 1.6 points on 22.2% of shots (including 14.8% from deep) in 6.2 minutes per game and struggled to stay a part of the team’s bench rotation.
The now sophomore wasted no time making his mark on Friday’s game, reversing each of his first two deep attempts to help Maryland get into an early 12-0 run and take a 10 point advantage over the Peacocks.
He continued to play a hard-hitting role on both ends of the floor early on, forcing two interceptions at half-time. After the pressure on the ball from senior guard Darryl Morsell forced Dallas Watson to lose control of his dribble, Hart intercepted the stray ball and hit junior guard Eric Ayala on the quick break.
With a clear track towards the basket, Ayala rose over the edge and flushed it with one hand, also drawing the foul to energize his teammates on the floor and on the bench to put the Terps 14-2.
Maryland’s scoring efficiency has been consistent over its first three games of the season, with senior guard Darryl Morsell mentioning the team’s commitment to finding the best possible shot for every given possession earlier this week.
The team continued this trend in their offensive approach against the Peacocks, starting the game by converting eight of their first nine field goal attempts after shooting 59.6% from the field in their last outing against Mount St. Mary’s.
This was especially true for Hart, who returned to the game at 10:19 of the second half and connected on his first two field goal attempts, including three more balls, to tie 11 points, a career high while putting the Terps. up to 30-14.
Maryland started to calm down as half-time neared the end, going over three minutes without a point in the stretch, but still managed to take a sizable 42-23 lead into the break.
The Peacocks came out of the locker room facing a significant deficit, but had no retirement plan in the second half. They kept the pressure on the entire court, which fueled their attack to reduce Maryland’s lead to just 14 in the blink of an eye.
However, Hamilton’s three straight points and a nice 15-foot second-year float extended the lead to a comfortable 19 points and forced Saint Peter’s head coach Shaheen Holloway.
“There were three big threes and I feel like a lot of guys stepped in and pulled off a lot of big threes today,” Hamilton said. “I just had a good little race, especially in the second half for me. I would just take my picture and shoot them with confidence.
The Peacocks continued to try to come back into the second half, ultimately reducing the lead to just 15 points with over 13 minutes to go. But after a foul that Saint Peter striker KC Ndefo disagreed with, he made a remark to referee Courtney Green as he was being substituted, prompting Green to immediately send the Reigning MAAC Defensive Player of the Year.
The Terps then received six shots at the charity board, converting five of them to reduce the lead to 20 points.
Maryland had to endure another long basket drought, with the team’s score coming almost exclusively from the free throw line during the nearly eight-minute goalless period on the field. But Donta Scott ended the Terps’ streak categorically, rising up on Saint Peter striker Hassan Drama for a two-handed slam to revive the offense.
Hakim Hart’s show continued to roll as the game started to slow down, knocking down shot after blow in the dying minutes to continue adding to his point tally. Hart didn’t miss a shot from the ground in the second half, scoring 6 for 6 on field goals and 2 for 2 deep, as well as 6 for 7 on the line, to score 20 points in the 14 minutes, he was on the floor, putting on a perfect cap on the sophomore breakout performance.
“He’s always been confident,” Scott said of his teammates. “He just had to go over there to show us that he can do what he can do.
Three things to know
1. Maryland has struggled with revenue. The Terps turned the ball over 11 times in the first half, but Saint Peter could only score six points on those turnovers. Despite poor shots from both sides in the second half, Maryland only returned the ball five times, bringing their game tally to 16.
“We were doing a lot of touring[over]s early on, you know, they were playing a very aggressive defense which, you know, shocked us a bit from the start, ”said Hamilton. “We just bonded as a team, figured out what we needed to do, what was open, where the options were and we just went from there.
2.Chol Marial looked comfortable. The 7’2 center has struggled to find a rhythm so far this season, averaging just 12.6 minutes per game this season while not looking too comfortable in the minutes he passed to the ground. Marial may have turned a corner with his performance today, looking in control from both sides of the floor, finishing offensively on the rim and sending two shots back into the paint.
3. Darryl Morsell and Aaron Wiggins both struggled to find their shot. Entering Friday’s game as the team’s second and third top scorers, Morsell and Wiggins have gone scoreless on the pitch for the first time this season. Morsell was scoreless after shooting 0 of 4 from the field and 0 for 1 from three-point range, while Wiggins’ five points came to the free throw line. But despite the poor performances of two of his key scorers, each still contributed to the victory, with Morsell’s defense making a significant impact and Wiggins adding four rebounds and tying a career-high six assists.
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