COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Perhaps Maryland knew the bounces were going to go its way during a sequence midway through the first half.

An entry pass to reserve post player Michal Cekovsky glanced off him and directly to starting center Diamond Stone, who made a nifty spin move along the baseline to score and give the No. 4 Terrapins an early 18-10 lead.

Stone was one of several Maryland players who led a first-half assault on the basket, as the Terps had several dunks against a tough Purdue defense. Maryland then made 22 of 23 free throws (95.7 percent) in the second half and came back from a four-point deficit with 5:58 left to beat No. 18 Purdue 72-61 in Big Ten play before a deafening home crowd of 17,950.

"They did a good job of driving the basketball," Purdue coach Matt Painter said of Maryland. "They really clamped down defensively. We had some ill-advised possessions I wish we had back. We had some poor decisions at the end of the game. That is enough to get beat. You have to get the ball inside."

Guard Rasheed Sulaimon had 21 points -- 15 after halftime -- and 10 rebounds and forward Robert Carter Jr. had 19 points and seven rebounds.

The Terps made 24 of 27 free throws and Purdue was just 2 of 5 and made only 3 of 25 shots from 3-point range.

"He can guard people. He is athletic," Painter said of Sulaimon. Carter "is streaky. His versatility is tough. He can put the ball on the floor and make a shot."

Point guard Melo Trimble had 14 points and seven assists despite making just 2 of 12 shots from the field and Stone added 12 points.

"This was by far his best game defensively," Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said of Stone.

The Terps won on a day that starting forward Jake Layman missed all three shots from the floor and had just fouir points in 33 minutes.

Maryland improved to 21-3 overall and 10-2 in the conference.

Purdue fell to 19-5, 7-4 despite 18 points and 10 rebounds by center A. J. Hammons, 10 points by reserve center Isaac Haas and seven assists from guard Vince Edwards.

The Boilermakers have not beaten a top-five team on the road since 1994 at No. 3 Michigan.

"The crowd was terrific," Turgeon said. "Our post defense was terrific. Our ball pressure was terrific. Our rebounding keeps getting better. There was no way we could have won this game without the fans.

"We spread the floor and got to the foul line. We talked about spacing the floor and we felt we could do that. We figured out how to get to the foul line. Our length helped us."

Maryland, which trailed 30-27 at halftime, took the lead on a tomahawk dunk by Carter to make it 37-36 with 13:56 left.

The Terps took the lead again on a dunk by Stone to make it 47-46 with 7:24 left in the game. Maryland grabbed the lead back on 3-pointer with five minutes left to make it 52-51 and a layup by Trimble extended the margin to 54-51 with 4:22 left.

Sulaimon made two free throws to build the lead to 56-51 with 4:00 left. Another dunk by Stone made it 58-53 with 2:40 left as Maryland made its free throws down the stretch. Trimble sank two free throws with 1:03 left to make it 63-53.

"I thought they did a good job of staying in our big guys," Painter said. "When you are on the road, you have to be better than we were. We were not very good the last seven, eight minutes."

NOTES: Purdue C A.J. Hammons entered averaging a team-best 14.3 points per game and F Caleb Swanigan led the team in rebounding at 9.0. ... Purdue F Vince Edwards is the only player to start all 24 games for his team. ... Former Maryland coach Lefty Driesell, who guided the Terps from 1969 to 1986, was honored on the court during a media timeout in the first half. The Virginia resident turned 84 on Christmas Day. ... Among those on hand were Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo and Maryland graduate Scott Van Pelt of ESPN. ... Maryland plays a nonconference home game on Tuesday against Division II Bowie (Md.) State, located about 10 miles from the Maryland campus. Purdue hosts Michigan State on Tuesday.