Local Teams

Eric Ayala led four players in double-figures with 22 points to help lift Maryland to a 73-55 home win over Michigan State in a Big 10 contest on Sunday at College Park, Md.

Maryland (15-10, 9-9) won its fifth straight game and continued to aid its push for an NCAA tournament bid.

Aaron Wiggins scored 13 points, Darryl Morsell had 11 points and Hakim Hart added 10 points for Maryland, which went 23 of 24 from the free-throw line and shot 48.8 percent from the field overall (21 of 43).

Josh Langford scored 12 points, and Aaron Henry and Joey Hauser each scored 11 points for Michigan State (13-10, 7-10), which shot just 33.3 percent from the field (19 of 57) overall and 28.6 percent from 3-point range (8 of 28).

After averaging 21.6 points per game over his last three games, Henry went 4 of 16 against a stout Maryland defense that threw multiple defenders at him throughout.

Trailing 49-38 with 11:37 remaining in the game, Michigan State scored six straight to cut Maryland's lead to 49-44 with 9:58 left.

But Maryland had an answer, going on a 9-2 run to take a 58-46 lead with 5:13 remaining after a 3-pointer by Hart.

After two free throws by Langford, Maryland then extended its lead to 63-48 with 3:52 left following a 3-pointer by Donta Scott and two free throws by Ayala.

Michigan State, playing its fourth game in nine days, couldn't get any closer than 12 points the rest of the way as it saw a three-game winning streak snapped.

Maryland got off to a strong start, scoring the first 11 points of the game and then hitting six of its first eight 3-point attempts to take a 33-21 lead with 4:03 remaining in the first half.

The Terrapins ultimately took a 35-25 lead at halftime.

--Field Level Media