Page Eight
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Sunday, February 23, 19 t7
Page Eig~it THE MICHIGAN DAILY Sunday, February 23, 1~I~
Blue
cagers
nip
Ao 0
.90
w= so
c ttt
ekers
downed
Blue hoopsters outlast
Northwestern, 69-68
Fired-up
Denver trips
lethargic Blue sextet
By JEFF SCHILLER
Special To The Daily
M i c h gi a n' s bas-
ketball team survived three
near - fatal lapses at the
free - throw line late in the
game and held off a North-
western rally to defeat the
Wildcats 69-68 yesterday.
The win gave the Wol-
verines a 9-5 record in Big
Ten play, and boosted the
Blue into a tie for second
place in the conference
race.
Missed charity tosses by
Steve Grote, Rick White and
Joe Johnson gave Northwestern
a chance to pull out a victory
after Michigan had taken a
seemingly commanding f i v e
point lead with just 1:05 left to
play. But the Wildcats were un-
able to capitalize and their fin-
al charge came up short.
"We're just happy to have
the win," said a relieved John-
ny Orr. "Usually we win close
games at the end because our
free throw shooting is so good.
But doggone if today we don't
have a chance to wrap up the
game with three one-and-ones
and we go out and miss every
one of them."
I R ON I C A L L Y, it had
been the Wolverines' expert
foul shooting minutes before
that had maintained their lead.
Michigan went the last five
minutes and 41 seconds of the
contest without a basket. But
C. J. Kupec and White sank six
consecutive free throws to keep
the Wolverines in front.
Then the cagers' foul-shoot-
ing touch deserted them and
Northwestern rallied to within
one point of the lead on Billy
McKinney's jumper with 13 sec-
onds left to play. Here the
Wildcats inexperience proved
decisive as they allowed Mich-
igan to stall away nine precious
seconds before fouling Joe John-
son.
T h u s, Johnson's subsequent
miss proved to be unimportant.'
Northwestern lacked any time
outs and was unable to get off
a shot before time elapsed.
"We should have fouled them
earlier," said a rueful Tex
Winter, as the Northwestern
coach discussed the heartbreak-
ing defeat. "That was our stra-
tegy if we didn't steal the ball,
but our kids were young, and
they panicked. By the time we
did foul them, it was too late."
THE EXCITING finale was
the culmination of a game which
featured streaky performances
by both clubs. Each team was
alternately red-hot and ice-cold
with the result being that
neither could hold a sizeable
lead for any substantial length
of time.
In the first half, Northwestern
jumped out to an early 10-5
lead, but Michigan stormed
back, utilizing the fast break to
score several easy baskets. The
Wolverines exploded midway
through the period to outscore
Northwestern 14-4 over a six
minute stretch and raced to a
39-28 advantage.
When a rout seemed immi-
nent, however, Northwestern
came roaring back, holding the
Orrmen scoreless over the last
three minutes and 47 seconds
of the first half. During this
blitz, the Wildcats converted
ten points of their own. The
Wolverines' margin dwindled to
a slim one point as the period
ended.
Virtually, the second half was
a repeat of the first. The Wild-
cats surged to a 52-47 lead with
11:07 remaining before baskets
by Dave Baxter, White, and
Kupec put the Wolverines back
on top. The teams see-sawed
briefly until Michigan reeled
off nine straight points to take
control by seven with 5:41 to
play.
THEN, IT was the Wildcats'
turn, but again their effort
came up one point short. Both
teams took several bad shots
down the stretch, and neither
team took command, largely
through the mistakes of the
other. '
"We both got impatient," ad-
mitted Michigan's Orr. "We
didn't move real well, and
Northwestern forced up several
bad shots toward the end of the
game.'"
Michigan's cause was aided
by outstanding contributions by
Steve Grote and Rick White,
who scored 18 and 12 points re-
spectively. Grote in particular,
returned to his old form as the
6-2 sophomore also snared six
rebounds and added three as-
sists. Perhaps, more important-
ly, he stayed out of foul trouble.
"GROTE HAS played much
better since we've let him come
in off the bench," Orr explain-
ed. "He used to get into foul
trouble early, but now he seems
to be playing with more control,
and his play has improved
greatly."
Playing in front of his high
school area home fans, C.J.
Kupec paced Michigan's attack
with 24 points and 12 rebounds.
Northwestern was led by 6'
g u a r d Billy McKinney's 17
points and 6-10 center Jim Wal-
lace's 14 rebounds.
The Wolverines resume action
Monday night when they travel
to Madison to face Wisconsin,
the surprising 103-96 victorsI
over Michigan State yesterday.
By DAVE WIHAK Michigan opened the scoring
In an effort to stave off elimi- at the 6:21 mark of the first4
nation from the WCHA playoffs period, as Kris Manery bangedt
the Denver Pioneer hockey home a centering pass by Dave
team came through with a Debol.
clutch 6-5 victory victory over But Denver capitalized on ac
the Michigan Wolverines last poor Wolverine clearing pass
night at Yost Ice Arena. as forward Dave RobinsonI
The loss marked the eighth scored on a partial breakaway
series split of the season for to tie the game, at the 8:39]
Michigan, but the win for the mark.I
Pioneers moved them into a The Pioneers got a power
tie for the last playoff spot play goal from Bob Young, and1
with Minnesota - Duluth. Angie Moretto scored the first7
Perhaps the key to Denver's of his two goals of the night to
win was the decision by Michi- even the score 2-2 at the end of
gan coach Dan Farrell to use the period.
back-up goaltender Rick Palm- Then came the disastrous sec-
er in place of regular Robbie ond period for the Wolverines,
Moore. Palmer managed to as Denver took advantage ofI
save 23 shots, but unfortunate- some shaky goaltending and
ly, his play was tainted by a some loose Michigan defensiver
fluke goal that he allowed in the play to score three consecutive
second period. times. Denver surged to a 5-21
"I'm grateful to Coach Far- lead.I
rell for using his substitute The goals came within fiveI
goalie tonight," said Denver minutes of each other andl
coach Murray Armstrong. "It
was a move very sympathetic Splendid
to our cause." FIRST PERIOD
Farrell's explanation of his SCORING: 1. M - Manery (De-
strategy was contrary to Arm- boi, McCahill) 6:21; 2. D - Robin-
strong's interpretation. "The son (Pazzelli, Kozlowski) 8:49; 3.,
strategy may have favored Den- D-Young (Graziziger, Tomasson
ver, but that is not what I in- 11:57, pp; 4. M - Moretto (Hughes)
tended," Farrell said. "No, I 18:18.
just wanted to see what Rick SECOND PERIOD
could do, because I felt he had SCORING: 5. D - Kozlowski
(Pazzelli, Tomassoni) 4:15; 6. D --
earned the chance in prac- Zajak C. Miller) 7:35; 7. D -
tice." Campbell (Brandt) 9:09; 8. M -
seemed to catch Michigan in a
coma. The second goal in par-
ticular was the toughest to
swallow for netminder Rick
Palmer, as he appeared to fan
on a soft shot by Tom Zajac
from outside the Michigan blue-
line.
Despite the large deficit,
however, the Wolverines snap-
ped out of their doldrums and
came to life. They tallied twice
before the second period ended,
narrowing the margin to 5-4.
The Wolverines couldn't tie
the game, however, largely be-
cause of some very fine net-
minding by Denver's Bob Lieg.
Armstrong was able to sum
up the Michigan position best
when he said, "Their team
could surprise a lot of people
in the playoffs. If they're hot
they will beat anybody in the
league. But if they're cold, then
anybody can beat them."
Farrell could only agree
splitters
Moretto (unassisted) 11:01; 9. M -
Maurer (Trudeau, D. Lindskog)
11:58 pp; 10. D - J. Miller (Fal-
cone) 15:33.
THIRD PERIOD
SCORING: 11. M - Hughes (Mc-
Cahill, Moretto) 6:52.
GOALIE SAVES
M-Rick Palmer 9 6 8-23
D-Lieg 9 13 16-38
Attendance: 4660
Officials: Jim Duffy, Tom Yuko-
vich
Daily Photo
MICHIGAN'S Kris Manery (19) and Denver's Mitch Brandt
are shown in a mad scramble for that ever elusive puck in
the Wolverines disappointing 6-5 loss to the inspired Pioneers
last night. Manery scored the Maize and Blue's first goal but
it wasn't enough to contain the visiting Pioneers.
Britt
Robin
Kupe
John
Baxte
Whit
Grote
Team
Total
Blue number 2
MICHIGAN
FG FT R F
3-10 0-1 4 3
ason 2-3 0-0 5 2
c 9-20 6-6 12 1
son 1-6 1-3 4 4
r 1-5 0-0 3 1
Fe 5-7 2-3 2 0
7-9 4-6 6 3
3
s 16-28 13-19 39 14
NORTHWESTERN
i
A
5
3
1
3
2
0
3
TP
6
4
24
3
2
12
18k
MAY LOST FOR SEASON:
Hoosiers sip
past
Pudue
Williams
Wells
Wallace
Teasley
M'Kinney
Dennis
C'twright
Trompt'r
Hldbrand
Svete
Team
FG FT R F
6-13 3-3 8 4
3-8 0-1 5 0
6-9 2-2 14 3
5-12 0-0 2 4
8-19 1-2 5 3
3-7 0-0 0 4
0-1 0-0 0 1
0-1 0-0 1 0
0-0 0-0 1 0
0-2 0-0 1 0
17 69
A TP From Wire Service Reports
2 15 WEST LAFAYETTE - Senior,
0 1 Steve Green pumped in 29 points
1 and top-ranked Indiana held off
2 17 a ferocious bid by Purdue in
2 6 the final seconds yesterday as
0 0 the Hoosiers clinched the Big
0 0 Ten basketball title with an
0 0 83-82 decision.
10 68 Purdue's chances to win the
game ended in the final five
69 s e c o n d s when guard Bruce
68 Parkinson took an inbounds
ran pass, wheeled and somehow,
bounced the ball off an Indiana doctors said. May sustained the severe jolt to their hopes for a
player, with the Hoosiers com- injury with about five minutes I runnerup spot in the confer-I
ing up with it just before the left in the first half after scor- ence. Their record dropped to
buzzer. ing eight points. 8-6 in Big Ten play and 15-7
Indiana Coach Bobby Knight's May had the arm X-rayed over-all.
first victory at West Lafayette and doctors gave virtually no Wisconsin fell behind in the
was a costly one for the chance for him to be back in early going, rallied for a 45-45
Hoosiers. Junior Scott May, a action in time for the National tie at the half, then virtually
6-foot-7 forward who leads the Collegiate Athletic Association shut off high-scoring Terry Fur-
team with a 19-point average, Tournament. low to pull off the upset.
-AL
i
, full court_
PRESS
Totals .31-72 6-8 38 191
SCORE BY PERIODS
MICHIGAN 39 30
NORTHWESTERN 38 30
Att. 3350. Tech-Britt
Officials: Gary Muncy, Ray Do
suffered a half-inch separation Spartansputter
in the radial bone of his right
arm and will be lost to the team MADISON - Paced by Dale
for the rest of the year, team Koehler's 28 points, Wisconsin
t extended its home-court jinx
over Michigan State, downing
Gymnasts
rip
Iowa,
the Spartans 103-96 in an upset.
The Spartans haven't beaten
Wisconsin at Madison since
1963, and the defeat dealt a
Big Ten
Standings
Blue not happy... Loken gathers 200th
... with near-choke
W L
By BILL STIEGj
EVANSTON
ANY KIND of win counts the same in the standings. Yester-
day's 69-68 squeaker over Northwestern, however, was not a
very satisfying one for Michigan's Wolverines.
Of, course, Johnny Orr told everyone who listened that any
Big Ten road win is a good win, but Michigan has to feel some-
what lucky leaving Evanston tied for second place.
The Wolverines have won several games this year on the
strength of their free-throw shooting, especially in the final
minutes of play. Last Monday for instance, pressure foul shots
by Joe Johnson helped Michigan to a thrilling win over Min-
nesota.
Yesterday, though, the Michigan players didn't celebrate
like they did after the Minnesota win. In fact, it was hard
to find anyone smiling in the Wolverine locker room, except
Steve Grote, who had his best game since being relegated
to sixth man.
Michigan gave the ball to Northwestern four times in the
game's final minute, but the Wildcats turned down the chance
to win by converting only once. With 46 seconds left and Mich-
igan ahead 69-66, C.J. Kupec travelled, but Northwestern's
Greg Wells missed a shot from the lane.
A missed free throw by Rick White at 0:37 gave the home
team the ball again, but Tim Teasley missed an unreasonably
long jumper. Then Grote, too, missed a free throw at 0:22, and
at last Northwestern scored on a Bill McKinney jump shot.
McKinney's shot came with 13 seconds showing on the clock.
Normal strategy, at this point, called for Northwestern to foul
a Michigan player as soon as possible, hoping for at least one
miss at the line. But inexplicably, the Wildcats allowed nine
seconds for the Wolverines to bring the ball up the court before
Teasley bumped Joe Johnson.
Johnson-apparently not wanting to break the pattern--
missed the front end of a one-and-one, but it would have
taken a sensational play for Northwestern to score in just
four seconds. Luckily for Michigan the Wildcats didn't have
it in them.
Afterwards, Orr was as giddy as a pardoned criminal.
Visibly relieved to escape with a win, he joked and laughed with
reporters, and even chuckled at the last minute near-choke.
"We missed three in a row, though, and Tex (Tex Winter,
Northwestern's coach) almost pulled it out," Orr said. "We
play exciting games.",
Nevertheless, inside the locker room, the players found little
to laugh at. Joe Johnson, who has played superbly in recent
weeks, appeared a bit dejected about his play. And C.J. Kupec
By SCOTT LEWIS,
MICHAEL WILSON
and LEBA HERTZ
Inspired by Coach Newt
Loken's quest for his 200th dual
meet victory, Michigan's high-
flying gymnastics t e a m ex-
ploded . for a season-high 215
points, h u m bl i n g the Iowa1
Hawkeyes 215-205.
The Wolverines avenged their
second place finish behind Iowa
in last year's Big Ten Cham-
pionships by defeating the 1974
champion Hawkeyes.
"WE KIND of especially
wanted this one," said co-cap-
tain Bruce Keeshin, referring
to the milestone victory. Loken
is the first coach in American
gymnastics to ever reach 200
victories.
The floor exercise team, led
by Randy Sakamoto and Harley
Danner started the season-high
pace by scoring 35.70 team
points to the Hawkeyes' 34.50.
Sakamoto led the Wolverines
with 9.1, while defending Big
Ten floor exercise champion
Dave May led the Iowa per-
formers with a 9.15 score.
RUPERT HANSEN and Jerry
Poynton came through with
scores of 9.1 on the pommel
horse to pace the Wolverines to
victory in the difficult gym-
nastic event, even though Iowa's
Bob Siemianowski scored an
amazing 9.35.
Following Siemianowski's per-
formance, Michigan ring spe-
cialist Joe Neunswander brought
the crowd of 800 to their feet
with superb executions of dif-
ficult iron crosses and pike po-
sitions. He earned the meet's
high score of 9.45.
At this point, Michigan led
SCORES
College Basketball
Indiana 83, Purdue 82
the Hawkeyes 106.75-103.00.
The Wolverines took a com-
manding lead when four per-;
formers all tallied nine or bet-
ter in vaulting.
Keeshin led all scorers with
a 9.3. Danner, Richard Bigras,
and Bruce Medd followed.
MICHIGAN continued its drmn-
ination in the parallel bars. dob
Johnson executed a difficult
back twist during his dismount,
which helped him earn a 93.
Going into the final 'event,
the high bar, Michigan had all
but sewn up the victory-but
the Wolverines didn't let up. Led
by Bob Darden with a 9.3, they
finished with 35.9 points for the,
event.
Michigan's o n 1 y disappoint-
ment was in not capturing the
all-around title.
After a tough battle through-
out the meet, Iowa's Bill Mason
finished on top with 52.25 points,
edging Wolverines D a n n e r,
Keeshin and Bruce Medd. Five
of the six all-around perform-
ers finished above 50 points,
which are excellent scores.
"IT WAS a helluva meet," cx-
pressed a sullen Iowa :7oach
Neil Schmidt afterwards. "I'm
real happy for Newt and his
team. They all finally hit.",
Loken, on the other hand, was
ebullient after the meet. "The'
kids really jelled this alter-
noon," he said. "It was esne-
cially nice for the seniors, who
came through with great per-
formances."
"I knew we had a 215 within
our squad, and it showed to-
day," beamed Loken. "Before,
we had series of nagging in-
juries dragging us. The giys'
are slowly approaching the end
of the season with thoughts of
perfecting their routines."
"We're going to be up for the
Big Tens," said K e e s h i n.
"We've been training for this
competition since last year's
Big Ten meet."
Pct.
Gophers get by
MINNEAPOLIS - Adept ball-
handling by sophomore guard
Phil Saunders froze the ball for
most of the final minute and a
half as Minnesota held on to!
defeat Iowa 68-67.
Minnesota jumped to a 41-27
lead with less than two minutes
gone in the second half. But the
Hawkeyes rallied, with Larry
Moore scoring eight straight
points, to take a 60-59 lead. with;
4:25 to play.
Chad Nelson's basket pushed
Minnesota in front 61-60 and the
Gophers held on.
Minnesota then controlled the
ball, largely on Phil Saunders'
dribbling, until he was fouled
with 60 seconds to play. Saun-
ders made both goals to give
the Gophers a 68-65 lead.
The victory gives Minnesota
a 9-6 record in the Big ran E nd
16-8 overall. Iowa fell to 4-1 in
the conference and 7-16 overa1l.
Buckeyes burned-
CHAMPAIGN-Nate Williams
and Otho Tucker tallied for the
first seven points in ovectiane
play to lead the University of
Illinois to a 83-78 victory over
Ohio State.
Illinois rallied from a 71.65
deficit to tie the game at the
end of regulation play at 71.71
on an outside jump shot by
Tucker with 1:25 left.
Ohio State cut the lead to
79-75 at one point in the over-
time before Howie Johnson
broke loose for a layup to take
the Illini back to 81-75.
The second-half Illinois rally
was sparked by Williams and
Mike Washington, who each hit
baskets to lead the comeback.
Illinois' conference r e c o r d
moved to 4-10, 8-14 overall. Ohio
State slipped to 8-9 in the Big
Ten and 14-11 overall.
Kentucky
spills Tide
Senior guard Kevin Greevy
led Kentucky to a 84-79 upset
victory over No. 5 Alabama yes-
terday. T h e seventh - ranked
Wildcats broke Alabama's nine
game winning streak with their
second Southeastern Conference
defeat of the Crimson Tide this
season.
Kentucky came from 12 points
behind in the second half, and
offset a fine performance by
Alabama's Leon Douglas, who
poured in 34 points and gribbed
12 rebounds.
Indiana
MICHIGAN
Purdue
Minnesota
Michigan State
Ohio State
Illinois
Iowa
Wisconsin
Northwestern
15
9
9
9
8
8
4
4
3
3
0
5
5
6
6
7
10
11
11
11
1.000
.643
.643
.600
.571
.533
.286
.267
.214
.214
Yesterday's Results
MICHIGAN 69, N'western 68
Wisconsin 103, Michigan St. 96
Illinois 83, Ohio State 78, OT
Indiana 83, Purdue 82
Minnesota 68, Iowa 67
BLUE RUNNERS 4TH
EMJU Wi
By ANDY GLAZER and
MARYBETH DILLON
Special To The Daily
KALAMAZOO-The record-breaking Mich-
igan mile relay team burst out to such a
huge lead that a startled Stan Vinson of
Eastern Michigan dropped his baton just
before the last turn, nearly costing EMU
the team title at the Central Collegiate
Track Championships yesterday.
Eventual second place finisher Penn State
cheered as Vinson went down after his baton,
but an agonizing 10 minutes later, they found
out they had fallen only one point short of
EMU.
Michigan finished fourth, well behind the
leaders.
"In general we didn't do too well,"
said Michigan coach Jack Harvey. "We
were tired and looking forward to the
Big Ten Championships as well."
There were a number of bright spots for
the Wolverines, though. In addition to the
mile relay, the two-mile relay, the 440, and
the 600 were showcases for Maize and Blue
stars
ins
ti tie
host Western Michigan's Read Field House,
"but I don't think that made the difference."
It certainly didn't make a difference
to Michigan's Dave Williams and Jeff
McLeod. Williams lost to world record
holder Vinson in the 600 by a mere 1.3
seconds, and McLeod took second in the
440 in 48.5.
Williams and Vinson ran in separate heats
of the 600 due to the large field. "I surd
would've liked to run head to head against
Stan," said Williams. "Stan can show you
how. It doesn't make sense not to let us run
together. Last year we had the two fastest
times in the world indoors."
Another fine performance was turned in
by Michigan's pole-vaulter Jim Stokes, who
came very close to 16 feet twice and finally
finished third with 15-6.
The Wolverines have been training vig-
orously for several weeks now, and are
"going to take it easier in the next two
weeks," according to assistant coach Ron
Warhurst.
"You can work hard for just so long," said
Warhurst, "the guys have earned a break.
WA're at the nnint where we can emnhasize
I