I SPORTS I * KIEL FARR WILL PAY WHATEVER THE BOOK SAYS YOUR TRADE IS WORTH $ 7 PLUS . . . DRIVE ANY OF THESE CARS FOR JUST 1/ THE PRICE!* / 2 FORD Xia) ( Mel Farr Ford 967•3700 24750 Greenfield Rd. Oak Park, MI 48237 MIKE SCHNEIDER MARK NESSEL NEW '91 ESCORT DRIVE TODAY AT 1/ PRICE! /2 NEW '91 TAURUS DRIVE TODAY > Itz.,6"‘Nr • 'V. 1 4‘ AT 1/ PRICE! /2 • • Mel Farr Toyota TOYOTA 1951 S. Telegraph Rd. Bloomfield Hills, MI 48013 333•3300 JAY PUZIO NEW '90 CELICA DRIVE TODAY AT 1/ PRICE! • : NEW '90 CAMRY ....... DRIVE TODAY AT 1/ PRICE! /2 MERCURY Mel Farr Lincoln Mercury LI NCOLN 4178 Highland Road (M.59 near Pontiac Lake Road) WATERFORD 683•9500 LOU GORDON OR MICKEY GOLDBERG NEW '90 TOWN CAR DRIVE TODAY • Vweal;:if AT 1/ PRICE! NEW '90 CONTINENTAL DRIVE TODAY AT 1/ PRICE! • The Plan is available at all 3 Mel Farr locations. All Fords, Mercurys, Uncoins and Toyotas qualify for 1/2 Price Program. • The Plan is a Company Authorized 2 year lease previously unavailable. See dealer for details. Customer must qualify. New '90 and '91 vehicles in stock only. 1/2 Price refers to MSRP. Prior sales excluded. Offer ends two weeks after last ad. 70 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1990 EMU's Braun Shrugs Off His Israeli Frustrations RICHARD PEARL Staff Writer T hat makes you 0-2 against the Israelis, right, coach?" The jibe disguised as a post-game question found its mark and elicited a short, sharp laugh from Ben Braun, Eastern Michigan University's head basketball coach and coach of the United States basketball team in the 1989 World Maccabiah Games in Israel. It certainly was true, he admitted: his interna- tionally inexperienced U.S. team did finish second to the Israeli national team two summers ago and this night, Nov. 20, his Hurons lost their first game of the 1990- 91 season 50-47 to a visiting Israeli team whose players also were international basketball veterans. "I know, I know," said the boyish-looking, 37-year-old coach good-naturedly, "there'll be some out there who think I lost this one on purpose. But there was no money on this game, it was just an exhibition —we played all of our players — and besides, there's no one on this team who wants to win more than I do." There is little dis- agreement with that, given Braun's record: in 41/2years at the Ypsilanti team's helm, the only Jewish head coach of a National Col- legiate Athletic Conference (NCAA) Division I college team in Michigan has com- piled a 76-59 won-and-lost record for a .563 winning percentage. Coupled with his earlier 148-103 record in eight years as head coach at Siena Heights College in Adrian, Braun's 12 1/2-year coaching mark is 224-162 for an even better .580 percen- tage. With nine lettermen returning -- including five seniors — from last year's 19-13 team that went 8-8 in the Mid-American Con- ference, Braun hopes the Hurons will return to their 1987-88 form, when they won both their first-ever MAC championship and post-season NCAA tourna- ment berth. Those ac- complishments earned Braun coach-of-the-year honors from both the MAC and the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan. Although he expects Bowling Green's more expe- Ben Braun: 76-59 at EMU. rienced team to be the league favorite, "I would like to think that we are one of the teams to be reckoned with" due to the Hurons' 8-3 record down the stretch last season. The run included a 58-57 road upset of league champion and eventual NCAA regional semifinalist Ball State. Braun has three starters returning: second-team all- MAC selection Lorenzo Nee- ly, a 6-foot senior point guard who averaged 13 points, three rebounds and four assists last year; 6-foot- 8 honorable mention All- MAC junior forward Kory Hallas, 12 points and six re- bounds; and 6-4 senior for- ward Carl Thomas, 10 points and four rebounds. With the addition of 6-7, 235-pound center Marcus Kennedy and 6-3 senior guard Charles Thomas, Carl's twin, Braun predicts a big and quick team in 1990- 91. But what about those Israelis on Nov. 20, coach? "They (Hapoel Hagalil Elyon, a team from the Golan Heights) slowed the game way down and our guys had never seen anything like that. They (Israelis) were trying to save their legs — they'd already played four games in five nights and they were tired. But who'd have thought they'd take only 10 shots the second half?" said Braun. He might have added the Israelis stuck to their most experienced players in scor- ing their first victory of the Ohio-Michigan trip, but that isn't Braun's style. "It was good for our guys," he said. "They need to play against every style." ❑