COLLEGE PARK, Maryland (Ticker) -- After American had hopes of ending a long losing streak, Gary Williams' team didn't treat his former school very nicely in the last 12 minutes.

John Gilchrist scored 20 points for the fourth consecutive game and Nik Caner-Medley added 16 as No. 21 Maryland used a second-half spurt in an 82-61 victory over American.

Williams, 322-167 in his 16 years at Maryland, began his coaching career at American in 1978 and went 74-42 in four seasons there. The win was the ninth straight for Williams against his former team and the 11th straight for the Terrapins in this series after the Eagles won the initial matchup in 1927.

Under Williams, Maryland is 105-2 against non-conference foes on its home court.

Maryland broke open the game midway through the second half with a 16-0 run spurred by fullcourt pressure that gave the Terps a 66-48 lead with just over six minutes left. James Gist started the spurt with an alley-oop feed from Gilchrist and Travis Garrison capped it with two free throws.

"You can really be embarrassed if you don't go hard in the press," Williams said. "It's a gambling press, but what I was hoping was that (American) might be a little tired, so the combination of the press and them being tired would work. We probably have a little more depth even though we're down to 10 guys right now."

"I think we got worn down," American coach Jeff Jones said. "Maryland just kept coming at us and then during that one (16-0) stretch, I think Gary saw that we looked a little bit tired, put on the press and got after us pretty good. We didn't respond. we missed some shots, turned the ball over, which resulted in quick baskets at the other end."

Gilchrist, coming off a performance in which he totaled 21 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists in a 90-88 overtime win against Florida State in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener Sunday, shot 8-of-15 from the floor and drained half of his six 3-pointers.

"John Gilchrist was very solid in the second half, not just scoring but getting us into our offense and getting us set up, which is important in order for us to play well," Williams said of his point guard. "We were pretty good when we were going at both ends of the court, like we did in the second half."

Ekene Ibekwe chipped in nine points and 13 rebounds for the Terrapins, who outrebounded the Eagles, 44-28, including 19-6 on the offensive end.

Jason Thomas scored 14 points and Andre Ingram added 12 for American (5-3), which had its five-game winning streak snapped.

In a first half of runs, Maryland took a 36-34 lead into the locker room. Thomas made three from the arc within the first five minutes as American opened an 18-13 lead with 14:34 to play. Gilchrist nailed a 3-pointer with 11:36 left to cap a 9-0 run for the Terrapins before the Eagles went on a 14-5 tear to take a 32-27 lead with 5:45 to go. Chris McCray scored five points as Maryland closed the half on a 9-2 spurt.

"We played a lot better in the second half," Caner-Medley said. "It wasn't necessarily anything we did differently. We came out kind of flat, but in the second half we played with more intensity."

American handled Maryland's pressure defense, committing just six turnovers and shooting 50 percent (14-of-28), including 5-of-9 on 3-pointers, in the opening 20 minutes. The Terrapins stayed in the game with 11 offensive rebounds.

"We played pretty well for 30 minutes or so," Jones said. "We gave it an effort, but when you get tired, if you want to be able to compete against teams like this, you have to come up with a special effort."