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Iowa blows out No. 17 Maryland

Feb 9, 2015 - 2:16 AM Iowa City, IA (SportsNetwork.com) - Melo Trimble caught a finger in the eye.

His team took it on the chin.

Aaron White had 17 points, Adam Woodbury scored 16 and Iowa battered No. 17 Maryland with a hot-shooting first half on the way to a 71-55 win on Sunday afternoon.

Peter Jok added 15 points for the Hawkeyes (15-8, 6-4 Big Ten), who shot better than 60 percent in the first half for a 40-17 lead at the break.

Trimble kept the Terrapins in the building by scoring 13 points in the first half despite having a TV camera dropped on his face and being poked in the eye by Woodbury during one five-minute span.

The freshman star finished with a game-high 20 points but the Terrapins (19-5, 7-4) lost for the third time in five games and dropped their third in a row on the road.

"I thought Iowa was terrific. Especially the first 20 minutes," Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said, according to the team's official website. "They came out and they were ready to go and got off to an unbelievable start. I give them credit. They were ready for us.

"That said, I thought we had a better second half. I thought we looked more like us. We didn't defend a lot better, but defended better. Offensively we were a lot better in the second half."

Iowa was coming off a 72-54 win over Michigan in Ann Arbor on Thursday to snap a three-game losing streak, also shooting better than 60 percent in that one.

"I think our ball movement has been better," said Iowa coach Fran McCaffery. "We've been really unselfish. I think we've gotten some transition opportunities, which is critical for us. You can do that more when you get more stops, which we got more stops today, and I think we're sharing the ball.

"Various people are scoring; they're comfortable scoring the ball. They're taking, I think, intelligent shots, and that's what you want."

A hard foul sent Trimble careening over a folding chair behind the baseline and into a TV cameraman, who dropped his camera on the guard's face. A Big Ten Network replay showed the moment of impact.

Later, Trimble was poked in the right eye by Woodbury, which drew a flagrant foul call.

Woodbury was criticized last month after poking two Wisconsin players in the eye during a game in Madison. The 7-foot-1 center later apologized for what he said were the "inadvertent" pokes.

McCaffery was asked if poking a player in the eye is cause for a flagrant foul call.

"That's an excellent (officiating) crew. But on that one, I don't know," he said.

McCaffery was then asked, "How does this keep happening?"

"Next question. Ask an intelligent question," he replied.

"Why is that not an intelligent question?" a reporter asked.

"Because I said so," McCaffery responded.

Trimble could not take any of the free throws, but he returned from the camera incident to bury a long 3 and score seven consecutive points for the Terrapins in one of their only good stretches in the first half.

The visitors missed their first four shots and turned the ball over three times as Iowa scored seven consecutive points to open the game.

The Hawkeyes built a 17-2 lead midway through the half and led 22-3 on Mike Gesell's layup 11 minutes in. Damonte Dodd's jumper with 8:30 remaining in the half was Maryland's second made field goal of the game.

The Iowa lead reached 40-17 at the end of the half on Gesell's layup.

The Hawkeyes had nine assists on their 14 made field goals in the half, which included a 4-for-8 mark on 3-pointers. They outrebounded the Terrapins 18-11 and forced 12 turnovers in the half.

Their lead reached as high as 25 early in the second half and Maryland got no closer than 12.

It was Iowa's 1,000th home win in program history.

Game Notes

It was the first meeting between the teams since Iowa beat Maryland in the semifinals of the 2013 NIT at Madison Square Garden. The all-time series is tied 2-2 with all three previous games being played at neutral sites. Sunday was the Terrapins' first-ever game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena ...Maryland hosts Indiana on Wednesday ... Iowa hosts Minnesota on Thursday.