Pharrel Payne scored 14 of his 22 points in the first half and grabbed seven rebounds to help Maryland to an 84-64 win against visiting Alcorn State on Tuesday night in College Park, Md.
Andre Mills had 16 points and eight rebounds, Elijah Saunders scored 12 points and Darius Adams finished with 10 points for Maryland (2-1), which ended the game on an 18-10 run over the final 6:01.
Jameel Morris shot 9-for-12 off the bench and scored 22 points and Travis Roberts added 14 points for Alcorn State (0-4).
The Terrapins led by as many as 19 points in the first half, but went the final 8:58 without a field goal, allowing Alcorn State to trim the lead to 33-27 at the break.
Maryland missed its final 10 field-goal attempts of the first half before Payne ended the shooting drought when he made a layup to reestablish a double-digit lead at 39-28 with 18:02 left in the game.
The Terrapins came out of the first TV timeout and Payne scored off a dunk to extend the lead to 46-29, and Aleks Alston hit a 3-pointer following a turnover by Morris to match their biggest lead of the first half at 48-29 with 14:59 left.
The Braves pulled within 12 on five occasions, but couldn’t get any closer.
The score was tied 7-7 when Saunders made a layup to spark a 13-0 run and give the Terrapins a 20-7 lead with 11:12 left in the first half.
Alcorn State ended a 7:16 scoring drought with a layup by Morris to cut it to 20-9, but another 7-0 run by the Terrapins gave them their biggest lead of the first half at 29-10 with 8:28 left.
The Braves began to chip away and ended the half on a 17-4 run behind Morris, who scored 10 points over the final 5:08.
Maryland point guard Myles Rice, who scored 17 points on Friday night in 70-60 loss to Georgetown, did not play and was seen in a walking boot on his left foot before the game.
