CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The futility of Virginia's recent history against Maryland was not lost on Cavaliers senior J.R. Reynolds.

His classmate, Jason Cain, took a little longer to get the picture.

"I was in the shower [Monday] and I thought to myself, 'When was the last time we beat Maryland?' " Cain said. "I was like, 'Damn, I've never beaten them.' "

The Terrapins had won its last six games with Virginia, three of them at University Hall, but the Cavaliers' new home proved a charm Tuesday night as UVa prevailed 103-91 at John Paul Jones Arena.

"That's the best defense in the league and we put 103 points on them," said an appreciative Virginia coach Dave Leitao, aware that Maryland was holding its opponents to 35.8-percent shooting from the field.

It was the third time that Virginia (10-6, 2-2 ACC) had gone over the 100-point mark this season, but the Cavaliers hadn't scored 100 points against an ACC opponent since 2001.

The Terrapins (15-4, 1-3) was ranked No. 22 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll after handing Clemson its first loss of the season and entered the game as 1 ¹₂-point favorites.

"I knew we hadn't beaten Maryland; I'd known it for a while," said Reynolds, who made 11 of 12 free throws and finished with 17 points on a night when UVa had five double-figure scorers.

The Cavaliers were led by sophomore guard Mamadi Diane, who played at DeMatha Catholic High School, located five minutes from Maryland's campus. Diane had career highs of 26 points and four steals.

Cain had 13 points and 16 rebounds on a night when UVa outrebounded the Terps 48-36.

"I don't think any player in the league brings more effort to the game than Cain," Maryland coach Gary Williams said.

The Cavaliers, whose first-half lead reached 20 points at 50-30, watched Maryland climb back into the game by scoring the last 13 points before intermission.

Although Cain and Reynolds had one foul apiece, Leitao made late first-half substitutions for them, apparently as a precautionary measure. The move backfired when their younger replacements failed to protect the ball and hit the boards. Maryland scored three times on stickbacks

Even with their late surge, the Terps were in serious trouble at the half, having incurred 14 personal fouls, three against Mike Jones and two against four other players.

Maryland had four personal fouls in the first 2:26 of the second half, but that didn't prevent the Terps from cutting the deficit to 56-52 on a 3-pointer by Virginia-bred freshman Eric Hayes with 16:14 remaining.

Hayes had converted a three-point play moments earlier, neutralizing a Diane 3-pointer that had put Virginia ahead 56-46.

Virginia eventually rebuilt its lead to 70-55 before Williams called his fifth and final timeout with 9:44 remaining, a strategical move not seen in Charlottesville since former UVa coach Pete Gillen once matched Williams droplet for sweat-soaked droplet.

Maryland was reduced to fouling in the closing minutes and the Cavaliers converted 39 of 49 free throws, with UVa junior Sean Singletary going 12-for-14 on a 25-point night. He had gone to the free-throw line one time in UVa's previous two games, both road losses.

"Foul trouble can be a lot of things," Williams said. "It can be Virginia, it can be Maryland, it can be ..."

Williams didn't come out and blame the officials and, if he had, he wouldn't have gotten much sympathy from the Cavaliers. UVa shot 30 free throws in its previous two games, compared to 86 for the opposition.

Some of the free-throw differential could be attributed to aggressiveness, which has marked Virginia's play at the JPJ Arena, where the Cavaliers are 9-1.

"As I told our team at the half, 'This is a veteran [Maryland] team that has been through the wars,' " said Leitao, who watched the Terps build an 18-point lead before spoiling UVa's "Last Ball at U-Hall," with an 71-70 victory last season.

"You can't take your pedal off the gas."

Maryland MP FG FT R A F PT

Gist 28 5-11 1-2 8 2 3 11

Ibekwe 31 7-12 3-6 14 2 5 17

Strawberry 29 2-11 7-9 0 3 5 11

Vasquez 27 6-12 0-1 4 4 4 17

Jones 32 7-12 0-0 3 1 4 18

Hayes 24 3-8 1-1 3 5 2 8

Brown 9 1-5 0-0 0 0 1 2

Bowers 12 0-2 3-4 1 1 5 3

Neal 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Osby 7 2-4 0-1 0 0 2 4

Team 3

Totals 200 33-77 15-24 36 18 31 91

Virginia MP FG FT R A F PT

Mikalauskas 16 2-4 2-4 5 1 3 6

Cain 36 4-9 5-8 16 1 4 13

Reynolds 34 3-13 11-12 7 4 3 17

Diane 35 9-16 6-7 3 2 3 26

Singletary 37 5-12 12-14 3 7 1 25

Harris 9 1-1 0-0 3 0 1 2

Tucker 17 3-6 3-4 3 0 4 12

Soroye 2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0

Joseph 9 1-2 0-0 1 1 0 2

Tat 5 0-0 0-0 4 0 1 0

Team 2

Totals 200 28-63 39-49 48 16 21 103

Maryland 43 48 -- 91

Virginia 50 53 -- 103

3-point goals -- UMd 10-26 (Vasquez 5-9, Jones 4-9, Hayes 1-5, Strawberry 0-3); UVa 8-25 (Tucker 3-4, Singletary 3-8, Diane 2-6, Cain 0-1, Joseph 0-1, Reynolds 0-5).

Turnovers -- UMd 19 (Ibekwe 5); UVa 20 (Reynolds 6).

Blocked shots -- UMd 6 (Ibekwe 3); UVa 3 (Cain 2).

Steals -- UMd 4 (Strawberry 2); UVa 8 (Diane 4).

Officials -- Tony Greene, Ray Natili, Tim Nestor.

Attendance -- 14,765.