Five Terrapins scored in double figures and Maryland snapped a two-game losing streak with an 84-71 home win over La Salle Tuesday night.

Eric Ayala led Maryland (5-2) with a career-high 23 points. Atlantic-10 visitor La Salle (3-5) had won three of the last four games this season before falling in the final nonconference contest for both teams. Sherif Kenney led La Salle with 16 points.

The Explorers trailed by 17 points early in the second half but hit eight of their first 12 shots in that stanza to cut the lead to 52-45 with 12:22 left when Scott Spencer canned a 3-pointer. While Maryland couldn't pull away until late, La Salle would never get that close again after Hakim Hart answered Spencer's three with one of his own for Maryland.

Aaron Wiggins added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Terps, and Hart had 13 points. Donta Scott had 11, and Jairus Hamilton had 10, all in the first half. Clifton Moore, Jack Clark and Anwar Gill each had 12 points for La Salle, which got pounded inside, as Maryland had a 44-14 edge in points in the paint.

A timely 10-0 run over the last 2:59 of the first half pushed the Terrapins to a 40-25 lead at the half. Wiggins had five of the 10 points in that run as the Terrapins finished by hitting four of their final five shots on the way to 48.5 percent shooting for the half. La Salle had sliced an 11-point deficit to 30-25 with 3:48 left but over that final stretch before the break, the Explorers connected on just 1-of-9 shots. Flexing muscle inside, Maryland had a 22-8 advantage in points in the paint to that point.

The Terrapins have a quick holiday turnaround, meeting Big Ten Conference rival Purdue on Christmas in West Lafayette, Ind. The Explorers are at Dayton to continue Atlantic-10 play Dec. 30.

--Field Level Media