November 26, 1996
Terps Defeat Howard, 93-55, In Men's Basketball Season Opener
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Sophomore center Obinna Ekezie scored a career high 19 points and All-America Candidate Keith Booth scored 17 to lead five scorers in double figures and boost Maryland to a 93-55 season opening victory over Howard in Cole Field House here tonight. The victory marked the 47 consecutive non-conference home victory for the Terps which dates back to December 12, 1989 - Gary Williams first season as the Terps head coach.
Maryland improves to 1-0 with the victory while Howard falls to 0-1.
The Terps scored the first 10 points of the game and led 20-6 with 13:12 remaining in the first half. Sophomore Laron Profit (14 points) scored five points on a dunk and a three-point shot during the opening flurry while Booth registered two monster dunks to excite the crowd of 12,850. Maryland expanded its lead to 31 points as Ekezie scored on a thunderous alley-oop dunk on a pass from Sarunas Jasikevicius to increase the Terps lead to 41-10.
The Terps continued to apply pressure throughout the second half as three different players recorded career statistical highs. In addition to Ekezie's career high 19 points, redshirt sophomore forward Brian Watkins scored a career high 11 points, grabbed a career high eight rebounds and played a career high 21 minutes and junior Rodney Elliott grabbed a career high nine rebounds. Watkins was playing in his first game since the end of the 1994-95 season as he sat out last year following his transfer from Notre Dame.
Sophomore Jabari Outtz scored a team high 16 points and Jermaine Holliway scored 14 to pace the Bison. Holliway led Howard with eight rebounds.
Maryland held a 57-31 rebound advantage and held Howard to 33.9 percent shooting from the field. The Terps shot an even 50 percent from the field and were 5-12 (41.7 percent) from three-point range.
Maryland will play host to Towson State in its next game Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
HOWARD MIN FG- FGA FT- FTA REB AST PTS
Holliway 27 5- 9 4- 10 8 0 14
Singletary 35 3- 11 0- 0 6 0 8
Harry 9 0- 4 0- 0 0 0 0
Outtz 32 4- 15 7- 7 1 4 16
Dedmon 22 3- 4 1- 4 2 2 7
McCormick 26 2- 5 0- 0 3 0 4
Watson 22 1- 5 0- 0 3 3 2
Abdullah 17 2- 5 0- 0 6 0 4
Gay 10 0- 1 0- 0 0 1 0
TOTALS 200 20- 59 12- 21 31 10 55
MARYLAND MIN FG- FGA FT- FTA REB AST PTS
Profit 27 6- 11 0- 0 4 2 14
Booth 27 6- 13 5- 7 6 4 17
Ekezie 24 8- 10 3- 4 7 1 19
Jasikevicus 28 6- 11 0- 0 5 5 13
Stokes 21 2- 4 1- 2 4 6 7
Elliott 21 2- 7 0- 0 9 2 4
Watkins 21 4- 10 3- 4 8 0 11
Kovarik 12 1- 2 1- 2 5 2 3
Hite 5 0- 1 1- 2 2 0 1
Raydo 4 0- 0 0- 1 0 1 0
Fields 4 0- 2 0- 0 1 0 0
Smith 4 1- 1 0- 0 2 0 2
Hahn 2 1- 2 0- 1 1 0 2
TOTALS 200 37- 74 14- 23 57 23 93
Halftime: Maryland 51, Howard 23
Officials: Paparo, Jones, Gladden
Attendance: 12, 850
