THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Eleven
THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Eleven
Gymnasts
nip
By LEBA HERTZ
Despite the absence of J. P. Bouchard
and an injury to Jean Gagnon, the Mich-
igan gymnastics team pulled an upset
over nationally ranked Penn State last
night in Crisler Arena by a score of
161.05 to 160.2. Gagnon, who was ob-
viously hurting from the start, scratched
from the last three events.
Coach Newt Loken excitedly com-
mented on the victory, "Wow, it was
just wonderful. (Randy) Sakamoto was
just tremendous. Pierre (LeClerc) and
Bruce (Medd) had great evenings.
(Jerry) Poynton was absolutely won-
derful and the ring team came
through again. The vaulting was out
of sight and the three high bar men
sailed through to a great finish."
"Without commenting on Michigan's
fine performance, Nittany Lion coach,
Gene Wettstone expressed only bitter-
ness in his team's loss. "At no time,
should the host coach choose the
judges," Wettstone complained. Despite
Wettstone's objections, the meet was a
tight and exciting one.
The first event, the floor exercise,
found Penn State holding a slight lead
with 26.7 points to the Wolverines' 26.6.
Sakamato starred for Michigan in amas-
sing a superb 9.15. Captain Jim Kreust
of Penn State finished second with an
8.95. Filling in for Bouchard, Chuck Still-
erman performed a fine 8.85.
On the pommel horse, Penn State
seemed lackadaisical in totaling only
24.5 points to Michigan's 26.3. Poynton
was again magnificent for the Wolver-
ines in garnering 9.1 points.' The two
events gave Michigan a slim lead of
52.9 to 51.2. Loken felt this event was
the turning point.
Joe Neuenswander and Captain Monty
Falb led the way for Michigan on the
rings as the Wolverines outscored Penn
State 27.3 to 26.8. Neuenswander scored
a 9.3 to win the individual title in the
rings. Falb's last home meet ended with
accolades from all as he scored a 9.2.
Nittany
In vaulting, things looked grim for
the Wolverines as Kreust and fellow'
teammate Brandt Atkins each scored
a 9.2. But diminuitive Pierre LeClerc
came through with a 9.35 to keep Michi-
gan in the lead with a 107.4 to 105.2
score.
On the parallel bars Michigan fal-
tered a little as Gagnon scratched.
Penn State outscored the Wolverines
27.35 to 26.30, thus closing the gap.
Things were left up to the high bar
men. Although Penn State won the event
27.63 to 27.35, the high scoring of Medd
(9.05), Bob Darden (9.1) and Carey Cul-
bertson (9.2) gave Michigan its stunning
victory. Kreust was high for Penn State
with a 9.2 with Bob Graf scoring a 9.15
and Mike Greene and John Juliano tied
with a 9.0.
The individual title went to Kreust
who scored a spectacular 53.75. LeClerc
finished a distant second with a fine 52.6.
Medd came in a close third with 52.15
points.
Lions
Loken praised the Blue gymnasts
when he stated, "Despite the prob-
lems we had (Bouchard's absence and
Gagnon's injury), the guys provided a
great win. I was. proud of them all."
The gymnast next step will be the
Big Ten Meet at Iowa. Although Michi-
gan edged the powerful Iowa team, Lo-
ken is still concerned. Loken remarks,
"We have our :hands full with Iowa.
How well can Jean (Gagnon) get pre-
pared for the Big Tens? His job is vital
if we are able to take the title."
Although not as impressive as a Michi-
gan football team defeating Ohio State,
the victory over!Penn State was a great
step for the Wolverines and should give
them an added boost when they head
for Iowa.
Michigan has finished the regular sea-
son with an impressive 7-0 record. A
Big Ten title would make it a perfect
season.
JERRY POYNTON OF MICHIGAN performs his pommel horse routine-a performance that won him
the individual title in that event last night. Michigan defeated the mighty Penn State squad 161.15 to
160.2. The side horse was the event which turned out to be the deciding factor in the Wolverine win.
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ROGER ROSSITER-
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.*. seven strong
ABE PRATT, GENERAL manager of the Vancouver Canucks,
-once said, "Forwards are good for goals and headlines, but
defensemen are the backbone of a hockey team."
Defense is the least glamorous position on a hockey team,
just as offensive line is in football. But a team without good
defensemen does not win consistently. Look at the Detroit Red
Wings.
'Every coach in hockey-including those in the Western
Collegiate Hockey Association-knows what good defensemen
mean to a team. That's why Michigan coach Dan Farrell
beams with joy .whenever a conversation turns to his blue
line corps.
"There's no team in the league that has seven good defense-
men like we do," he flatly remarked. "Some have three or four,
but not seven. That's definitely our strongest area."
Goalie Robbie Moore agreed wholeheartedly, claiming, "We've
got the best defense in the league, and potentially the best in
the country."
RANDY TRUDEAU, Tom Lindskog, Greg Fox, Gordie Cullen,
Rob Palmer, Dave Shand, and Greg Natale are free skating
defensemen who all possess "lightness afoot" Farrell's sole re-
cruiting criterion.
"I feel . can teach a recruit all he needs to know about
plaging defense, if he "is the physical ability t' make the
moves," Farrell explains. "All our defensemen have that ability.
All seven are exceptionally good skaters."
A comparison of Michigan's goals against statistics con-
Krms Farrell's allegations. Last year, in thirty-two games,
Michigan surrendered 183 goals for an average of 5.7 per
game. This season through thirty games only 137 pucks have
entered the Michigan net 4.5 per game. Add to that the
Wolverines' increased scoring output (approximately a goal
a game) and you end up with better than a two goal per game
difference in favor of the 1974 Maize and Blue.
None. of the Michigan blue liners believes the improvement
is all their own. Tom J.indskog noted that "The play of our for-
wards has helped the defense a lot. They're more conscious of
coming back on defense this year, which means we don't get
caught in three-on-two and four-on-two situations very often."
Farrell believes that in the perfect situation a defenseman
should never get beaten one-on-one by a forward. "We work really
hard on one-on-one's," claimed junior-year captain Randy Tru-
deau, the oldest of the defensemen.
"VOU CAN'T TAKE anything for granted as a defenseman,"
Lindskog explained. "Whenever we move into the offensive
zone,'we have to get back to our position as soon as possible.
We're taught never to trust a forward covering up for us," he
added dith a smile.
Palmer, Shand, and Natale are all freshmen. All have had to
adiust to the different style of hockey played in the United States'
colleges. Each has had his own individual problems.
"College hockey is tougher on the defenseman because
they don't use the center red line," offered Natale. "Teams
will shoot the puck from their own blue line behind our net,
and we have to get back in a hurry. They also forecheck
behind the net. here which is almost never done in Canada."
"In Canada they stress using finesse," Shand noted, "while
here they play a more physical, disciplined game. The only thing
I have problems with is the two-on-one break. Other than that I
haven't had that much trouble."
For Palmer, the speed of the opposition's skaters has re-
quired the largest adjustment. "Everyone skates a lot faster in
this league, and without the centerline you have to make sure
no one gets behind you for a long lead pass. The faster skating
and the lack of a red line make college hockey a much faster
game than the way it's played in Canada."
INJURIES PLAY A major role in all sports, but in hockey the
ability to play despite injury is considered a vital charac-
teristic of the complete player. Lindskog and Shand epitomize
that quality.
Early in the year, both suffered broken noses. Shand's re-
ouired emergency surgery. Neither missed a game. Then, last
Friday at Notre Dame, Shand had a recurrence of an old shoulder
problem. "It pops out every now and then," Shand explained.
"It hurt really bad, but I popped it back in on the bench."
Amazingly, he still played Friday night wearing a shoulder
harness that held the fickle limb in place.
In a year of rebuilding for the Wolverines the defense's
turn around has been a key to Michigan's startling success.
At the season's ontset Farrell set his defensive match-ups,
Shand and Trudeau, Palmer and Lindskog, Fox and Natale,
By GEORGE HASTINGS
Special To The Daily
MADISON - The inevitable dally
finally happened.
Campy Russell finally had O
that super-duper s c o r i n g
night, and his 36 points lastI
night were good enough to NIGHT EDITOR.
power the Michigan Wolver- MARCIA MERKER
ines to a 78-74 victory overE
Wisconsin for Michigan's big-- resulted in a Britt free throw and
gest road win of the year. a 70-59 Michigan lead.
Egetryody wineofCheya At that point it looked pretty
Everybody knew Campy wapoints much sewed up for the Wolverines,
in any game where he really but a frantic Wisconsin press in the
wanted them, but team ball has last three minutes and a few missed
been the name of the game for one-on-one free shots by Michigan
the Wolverines this year, and Rus- made the score closer than it had
sell has been unselfish. But last to be.
night they needed the big: effort A quick pair of steals and layups
from their big gun to hold off a cut the Michigan lead to 74-67 with;
scrappy Badger bunch, and Russell 1: 50 left, but at the point Badger
came through in spectacular style. guard Gary Anderson 'fouled out
The junior All-America candidate' with 19 points to his credit, hurting
hit 15 of 26 shots from the floor, the Wisconsin cause. Lamont Wea-
at least half of them from very; ver hit a 22-footer a minute later,
long range, and added six of seven though, that made it only 75-72 in
from the charity line. The 36 points favor of Michigan with forty sec-
were Russell's career high, but onds left.
Campy even found time to haul
down 11 rebounds to go with them. 'n UT JOE JOHNSON, who had
another excellent game, then found
RUSSELL'S MOST crucial effort Russell under the hoop with a
came with six minutes left in the gorgeous floating pass under heavy
game, with the Wolverines ahead pressure, and Campy put the con-
65-57 but the battling Badgers at- test into the win column.
tempting to make one last surge to As the first half started it was
rowdy
with 19 points and 8 rebounds, and
Johnson had 11 markers, while An-
derson had 10 for the Badgers.
Wisconsin came out after the in-
termission crashing the offensive
backboards, with Koehler and Kim
Hughes each getting several tip-ins.
best and Wisconsin got its offense
moving.
Anderson was drilling them in
from the periphery, and that open-
ed the way for Kim Hughes and
Dale Koehler to get some easy
buckets inside.
When the Badgers converted a'
pair of steals midway through the
first half, they opened a 20-14 lead.
BUT RUSSELL and Johnson did
not let the Wisconsin lead last
long. They led the Michigan fast
break, which connected for three
quick hoops to put Michigan ahead
27-26. They then combined for
Michigan s next 11 points, and
when C. J. Kupec hit a layup with
one second remaining, the Wol-
verines had a 40-34 halftime mar-
gin.
Russell finished the first stanza
Badgers
tough Monday night road game
after a tiring, important win over
the Boilermakers Saturday. "We
came to play tonight. It's hard for
us to come back on a Monday
night, but we went out there and
ran the offense very very well."
Russell
Johnson
Britt
Kupec
Grote
Worrel
white
Totals
FG
15-26
6-12
5-12
4-8
3-6
0-0
0-0
33-64
FT
6-7
2-5
1-2
1-3
2-3
0-0
0-0
12-20
IASSISTANT COACH Jim Dutcher
THE BADGERS made run after ASdIdTAtT His imsurs
runat he ichga led, ut headded that, "This was our best
rin at the Michigan lead, but the road win in the conference. Campy
Wverinnes erethotfom e out- had his best game of the year
get closer than four points before tonight. But he also had some
Russell took over in the final min- kind words for Johnson. "Joe had
utes. another great game for us," said
After the game, Wolverine coach Dutcher of the Michigan guard,
John Orr was effusive in his praise who was second high scorer with
for Russell. "Campy was brilliant 14 points, along with four assists.
out there, positively brilliant. No-
body could have stopped him to- "He looks like an all-conference
night." guard to me. Buckner and those
But he also was happy about the other guys get the ink, but Joe has
way his whole team responded to a been more valuable to us."
WISCONSIN
Badger blues
MICHIGAN
R
11
5
13
3
2
0k
38
10
13
8
0
5
2
F TP
4 36
1 14
3 11
3' 9
38
0 0
0 0
14 78
Koehler
Kim Hughes
Anderson,
Ptacen a ,
Weaver'
McCoy
McCauley
Kerry Hughes
Totals
10-16 0-0
9-20 1-2
9-17 1-2
0-2 0-0
2-13 0-0
2-3 0-0
2-5 2-2
1-3 0-0
35-79 4-6
5
2
5
0
4
1
0
19
20
19
18
0
4
4
6
a
74
SCORE BY PERIODS
MICHIGAN
Wisconsin
Attendance: 7,684
40 38 78
34-40 '74
oil!________________________ _ _______
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r
_
M
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get back into the game. Russell apparent that the Wolverines were
drilled one in from the outside, not going to be able to duplicate
came back to connect on a drive, their near perfect Saturday per- I
and then hit Wayman Britt with a formance against Purdue. The:
beautiful court-length pass which Michigan defense was not at its
Hoosiers ramble on-
11 140Y CT "7 a 1)_w
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s~bIwane 1Ku u, V-If
By The Associated Press
BLOOMINGTON - Led by fresh-
man center Kent Benson's 19,
points and 12 rebounds, Indiana
survived a second-half comeback
by Michigan State and beat the!
Spartans 91-85 to reamin atop thej
Big Ten basketball standings.
The Hoosiers, ranked No. 10 in
the nation, raised their conferenceI
record to 11-1 and eliminated the
8-4 Spartans from any hopes for
the league championship.
Robinson and Hairston led the
Michigan State rally and the,
Spartans pulled within four, 85-
81, - with four minutes to go be-
fore Abernathy sank a basket
and two free throws to give the
Hoosiers some breathing room.
Michigan State closed the gap
to four, 89-85, with 40 seconds re-
maining. Two free throws by soph-i
omore Quinn Buckner Iced the
game for the Hoosiers with two
seconds to go.
Mike Robinson, the defending
conference scoring champion, led
the Spartans with 27 points, and
teammates Lindsay Hairston and
Terry Furlow added 21 apiece.
Buckner and Steve Green each1
finished with 16 points, while re-7
serves John Laskowski and Tom'
Abernathy popped in 15 each in;
*the balanced Hoosier attack.
1Gophers romp
.pCHAMPAIGN -Minnesota piled
up a 38-26 halftime lead and with
four players hitting in double fig-
ures blasted Illinois 72-52 in a
Big Ten basketball game last night.
It was the Illini's lowest point
total at home since losing to
Houston 54-46 in 1968.
In the first five minutes of the'
last half the Gophers jumped ahead
48-31 in a surge led by Phil Filer's
two baskets, and the closest Illi-
nois9came to closing the gap was
50-39.1
Illinois, hitting only 21 of 71
floor shots, sagged to 2-10 in Big
Ten play. Minnesota, making 29
of 62 field goal attempts, is 6-6.
Buckeyes rally
EVANSTON-Ohio State's Buck-
eyes, down by three points with 18
seconds left in regulation time,
rallied for a tie on a basket by
Bill Andreas and then collected
free throws by Larry Bolden and
Steve Wenner to score a 72-69
overtime victory over Northwest-
ern last night.
It was touch-and-go from the
very start as the two teams
kept changing the lead with
Ohio State going ahead 30-27 at
the half.
The two teams kept up the same
tempo in the second half, and it
finally looked as if Northwestern
would win it when Bob Hildebrand
hit a pair of free throws to put the
Wildcats ahead 63-60.
Craig Taylor scored a free
throw and Bill Andreas connect-
ed on a basket to force the game
into overtime.
Byran Ashbaugh twice gave
Northwestern leads in the over-
time, but baskets by Taylor and
Wardell Jackson helped ease Ohio
State ahead.
Andreas and Bolden led Ohio
State with 18 points each and
Jackson finished with 14. Bill Mc-
Kinney was high for Northwestern
with 19 and Ashbaugh finished
with 16.
/ .
Big Ten Stanings
40 4m .
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