COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Old Dominion men’s basketball put together a late 11-0 run, but it wasn’t enough to catch Maryland as the Monarchs fell 73-58 on Sunday night at the XFINITY Center.
KC Shaw led ODU with 19 points on 7-for-17 shooting from the floor. The senior from Charlotte, North Carolina pulled down four rebounds and one assist to his stat line. Zacch Wiggins was the only other Monarch to finish in double figures, netting 14 points with four boards and one assist.
ODU outscored Maryland 40-28 in the second half, but was held to just 18 points in the first half. The Monarchs (4-10) shot 36.8% (21-for-57) from the floor, 22.2% (4-for-18) from long range, and 63.2% (12-for-19) at the free-throw line.
“Just an awful start,” said ODU head coach Mike Jones afterwards. “You put yourself in that big of a hole. And we’ve seen this before, we fight and get back, but obviously not good enough at the start.”
The Terrapins (7-6) jumped out to a 17-0 lead to start the game as the Monarchs struggled to crack the Maryland defense. Drew McKenna finally broke through with a driving layup at the 14:04 mark. After a Darius Adams three-pointer, ODU put together a 7-0 run as Wiggins made a pair of free throws, Scottie Hubbard got a triple to fall, and Shaw followed with a jumper. That cut the deficit to 20-9 with 11:05 on the clock.
Maryland’s Andre Mills and Robert Davis Jr. traded threes before the hosts scored another 11 unanswered for a 34-12 advantage. McKenna snapped the scoring drought with a layup at the 3:53 mark, but a pair of Isaiah Watts triples highlighted an 8-0 push by the Terps. Watts made a third deep ball in the final minute of the half and Wiggins scored a couple of late baskets as the Monarchs trailed 45-18 at the break.
Asked about the low number of assists, Jones added, “Maryland’s a really good, really talented defensive team. They definitely were physical with us and took us out of what we wanted to do. I’m not necessarily worried as much about the assist numbers as I am about the way we started and put ourselves in a hole."
“Obviously we fought to get back in it, and we still didn’t get great assists, but we got production, and we need to capitalize on that a little bit."
In the second half, a Donovan Raymond layup opened a 6-0 run as ODU was down 51-31 with 13:55 left in the game. Maryland kept its distance for most of the second stanza, but the Monarchs finally got some momentum following a media timeout with 3:53 remaining.
Wiggins started off the run by converting four free throw attempts. Hubbard then knocked down a three from the left side, and Shaw and Jared Turner added a couple of layups to cut the Terps’ lead to 12, 68-56 with 1:33 to go. Davis Jr. hit a jumper with 36 seconds left to cap off the scoring for ODU.
“Those five guys at the end kept fighting and fighting. We guarded much better in the second half than we did in the first half. We guarded the three-point line much better. But ultimately again, that first half effort. Forget about beating Maryland, you’re not going to beat enough teams in the Sun Belt. We’ve got pretty lofty goals, so we’ve got to be better.”
Up Next
ODU resumes Sun Belt Conference play this Wednesday, Dec. 31 when the Monarchs host App State for a 2 p.m. game at Chartway Arena.