Ekezie’s Season Has Ended

The troubled season of Maryland center Obinna Ekezie has come to a disappointing and premature end Wednesday when tests revealed he has a ruptured right Achilles’ tendon.

Ekezie, a 6-foot-10 senior, was averaging 12.7 points and 5.9 rebounds in his final season with the seventh-ranked Terrapins. He had started 87 consecutive games before being replaced in the starting lineup by freshman Lonny Baxter, who helped the Terrapins beat Virginia, 77-62, last Saturday.

Ekezie hurt his heel late in Tuesday’s practice, school officials said. An MRI procedure determined that he had a ruptured Achilles’ tendon.

“Obinna has done a great deal for this program in the past four years, and he will be missed very much,” Coach Gary Williams said in a statement.

Ekezie, a native of Nigeria, scored one point Jan. 31 at Wake Forest and followed that with a two-rebound effort against Duke. That caused Williams to shake up the lineup and replace Ekezie with Baxter against Virginia.

Ekezie came off the bench to score eight points and grab six rebounds in a season-low 17 minutes. It was only the third time in his last 17 games that he failed to score in double figures, but this season his scoring and rebounding averages are lower than they were a year ago.