Mount St. Mary's gave Maryland all it could handle at home Sunday afternoon before the host Terrapins pulled away for a 79-61 victory to remain unbeaten.

Maryland (3-0) had to overcome an early nine-point Mount St. Mary's lead, and later saw the Mountaineers battle back from a 10-point deficit to take a 58-56 lead with 8:57 to play on Malik Jefferson's short hook.

But the Terrapin defense clamped down, holding Mount St., Mary's (1-2) scoreless for seven minutes and 35 seconds. Jairus Hamilton, one of five Terrapins in double figures, canned a 3-pointer at 7:45 to start a decisive 21-0 run. The Mountaineers missed 10 straight shots during the Maryland spree.

Donta Scott led the Maryland attack with 17 points, while Eric Ayala had 15, including the last 10 Maryland points of the first half to put the Terrapins up 41-32. Hamilton added 13 for the Terrapins and Aaron Wiggins had 12 as Maryland shot 59.6 percent from the field (31 of 52).

Jalen Gibbs had 19 points to lead Mount St. Mary's, which also played Saturday against Navy, and appeared to wear down against the bigger and deeper Terrapins. Jefferson added 18 points and nine rebounds for the Mountaineers.

The Mountaineers started hot, hitting eight of their first 11 shots and led 21-12 just over eight minutes into the game on Gibbs' fourth 3-pointer. He finished 5 of 13 from 3-point range.

The Terrapins went on a 13-4 run to tie the game at 25-25 on Hakim Hart's 3-pointer, and another Hart 3-pointer gave Maryland its first lead at 28-26. Hamilton put Maryland ahead for good with a 3-pointer to make it 31-28 and fuel another 13-4 run. Maryland led 41-32 at the half.

Maryland's nonconference home winning streak reached 11 games and the Terrapins have a Big Ten Conference-best 49-7 home mark over the last four seasons.

--Field Level Media