Terrell Stoglin scored 24 points, James Padgett fueled a decisive second-half run, and Maryland squeezed out a 73-67 victory over Florida Gulf Coast on Friday night.
Back home after losing two of three in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, the Terrapins (3-2) overcame a slow start to hand the Eagles (2-4) their third straight loss.
Florida Gulf Coast trailed 36-30 shortly after halftime before Padgett scored five successive points in a 16-6 spree that made it 52-36 with 13 minutes left. Stoglin had two free throws and a 3-pointer during the surge, and Berend Weijs capped it with a tip-in and jumper in the lane.
After Florida Gulf Coast closed to 62-55, Padgett hit a short jumper and Nick Faust scored off his own steal to push the lead back to double-digits. The Eagles cut the gap to 70-66 with 47.6 seconds left but could not complete the comeback, even though Stoglin went 2 for 8 from the foul line in the final 75 seconds.
Florida Gulf Coast went 2 for 19 from 3-point range and was 13 for 23 at the foul line.
Brett Comer scored 16 points for Florida Gulf Coast, playing in its fifth season as a Division I school. The Eagles, an Atlantic Sun Conference team, previously lost by one point at TCU and Southern Methodist and were coming off a 10-point defeat at Miami.
Padgett scored 11 points to help the Terrapins notch their 13th straight nonconference win at home.
Maryland went 1 for 7 from the field in the opening five minutes and fell behind 9-2. John Auslander then hit two straight shots and Mychal Parker added a 3-pointer to tie it, and three minutes later Jonathan Thomas connected from beyond the arc to give the Terrapins their initial lead at 14-11.
Stoglin's first basket made it 19-13, and he had a layup and three free throws to cap a 7-0 spurt that put Maryland up by 10.
Bernard Thompson answered with a layup, two foul shots and a dunk to get the Eagles to 27-23. The Terrapins built the margin back to nine points before Dante Holmes hit a jumper for Florida Gulf Coast at the buzzer.
