LONG ISLAND, N.Y. -- Maryland's stifling defense and a balanced scoring attack paced by sophomore forward Justin Jackson's 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds led the Terrapins past Stony Brook 76-61 on Friday night in their regular season opener at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The Terrapins connected on 52 percent of their field goal attempts (14-of-27) en route to building a 41-23 halftime lead.

Defensively, Maryland limited the Seawolves to just 30 percent from the field (9-of-30) in the first half. Maryland took advantage of the smaller Stony Brook squad out-rebounding them 24-9 as the Terps also connected on 11-of-12 free throws to head into halftime with an 18-point lead.

"We played well - especially in the first half," said Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon, who lauded his team for limiting Stony Brook to 36.5 percent shooting and out-rebounding the Seawolves by 16. "Our defense and rebounding were very good and at a higher level at this time earlier in the year than I anticipated."

Freshman forward Bruno Fernando scored six of his 10 points over 2:12 span to lift Maryland to a 58-42 lead with 12:04 remaining in the game. Fernando took a nifty pass from Jackson on a fast break and posted a tomahawk jam and followed with a strong one-handed slam from a nice dish from sophomore guard Anthony Cowan Jr., who also led the Terps in scoring with 15 points.

Stony Brook, meanwhile, cut the deficit to 69-57 with 4:06 to play but Maryland went on a 6-0 run with baskets by sophomore guard Kevin Huerter (13 points) and a pair of baskets by Cowan Jr.

Turgeon had five players in double figures and had 11 players see action in the first half.

Maryland (1-0) will host UMES in its home opener Sunday, Nov. 12 at 6 pm at XFINITY Center.

Notes:

• Fernando made his Terps debut and took a beautifully placed alley-oop pass from Cowan Jr. with 5:49 in the first half for an empathic dunk for his first career basket as a Terp.
• Senior Michal Cekovsky, who missed the final six games last season with a fractured left ankle, added 10 points and connected on all three of his field goal attempts and all four of his free throws.
• Turgeon opted to start Cowan, Huerter, Jackson, Cekovsky and redshirt junior forward Ivan Bender.
• Freshman guard Darryl Morsell, redshirt freshman forward Joshua Tomaic and graduate transfer center Sean Obi all made their Terrapin debut on Friday night.