Page 10-Sunday, January 15, 1978-The Michigan Daily FIRST CONFERENCE LOSS: EIllini bump cagers 65-61 By DAVE RENBARGERR Special to The Daily ! CHAMPAIGN-The Michigan Wol- verines yesterday returned to the site where they clinched last year's Big Ten basketball championship-Illinois' Assembly Hall-but there was no celebrating after the game this time around. After fighting an uphill battle against the Illini all afternoon, the Wolverines finally succumbed to the combined deadly free-throw shooting of Illinois' guard Rob Judson as well as their own inability to hit from the line and absor- bed a 6541 defeat. It was Michigan's first loss of the Big Ten season after three victories, and dropped the Wolverines out of a first place conference tie. JUDSON, WHO played in nearby Adrian for two years as a prep, was flawless in five attempts from the line over the final 1:26 of the game, in- cluding one on a controversial technical foul. Those points enabled the Illini to stave off a late rally by Michigan and up Illinois' record to 2-2 in the conferen- ce and 8-5 overall. The Wolverines dropped to 8-4 on the season. Down the stretch the two teams executed one crucial play after another to k(eep the 8,795 upset-minded fans on their toes. The first big play came with 3:49 left and the Illini on top, 57-55. Illinois center Rich Adams missed a lay-up but followed with a tip-in. Michigan's Joel Thompson, who had dominated the boards in the second half drew his fifth personal foul on the play. Adams completed the three point play to put Michigan down by five. The Wolverines narrowed the margin to one with a pair of" nifty lay-ups by Tom Staton. THEN, WITH 1:26 remaining, Judson hit his first two charity tosses in a one- and-one situation. Following came the play that ultimately decided the contest. With just over a minute to go and Michigan down 62-59, guard David Baxter penetrated the lane and tossed up a shot from underneath the basket as he and Judson collided. The ball fell off the rim as both guards fell to the floor. Everyone was waiting for a whistle but none was heard. Baxter had a quick word with an of- ficial and was hit with a technical foul. Judson calmly sank the shot to give the Illini a 63-59 lead with 1:05 left. Coach Johnny Orr called the play the turning point of the game, while admit- ting that he was looking for a foul on Judson. "IT WAS A very critical call on Bax- ter. It's very hard to contain yourself when you get knocked to the floor under those circumstances," said Orr in defense of his co-captain. "Because he (the official) makes a mistake he calls it on my kid," Orr con- tinued. "If he'd called the foul (on Jud- son), we still could have won the game."~ But Orr didn't fail to place the real blame for the loss exactly where it belonged. "We just couldn't make a free throw," he said of his team's abysmal 3 for 12 performance at the -.... line. The Illini canned 11 or their 12 free throw attempts. OFFENSIVELY, Michigan's fresh- man scoring whiz Mike McGee topped everyone with 22 points, going 10 for 16 from the field. McGee had his troubles hanging on to the ball, picking up seven turnovers, mostly on traveling violations. Forward Alan Hardy backed McGee with 10 points, and Baxter handed out 10 assists - Freshman Mark Smith paced the balanced attack with 16 points, most of them from insie over McGee. Guard Audie Matthews added 11. Ten of theĀ° Illini saw action and nine scored. "We just have to be prepared for whoever is in there," said Hardy. "But it can hurt you if you aren't thinking. I think it hurt us a little bit today." FROM THE opening tipoff, both teams had trouble finding the hoop. After missing its first five shots, Michigan hit on its sixth to grab a 12-2 lead. Over the next 12 minutes, the Illini outscored the Wolverines 27-10 and took a 3-26 halftime lead. Throughout the second half, Michigan stuck just within striking distance, but the Illini never relinquished their lead: With 7:14 remaining the Wolverines tied it up at 57, but that was as close as they could come. MICHIGAN FG/A FT/A1 R McGee Hardy Thompson Staton Baxter Bodnar, Mty. Bergen Heuerman Team Totals Sc MICHIGAN Illinois 10/16 5/15 4/11 4/6 4/13 1/2 1/5 0/0 2/4 0/3 1/2 1/2 0/2 0/1 0/0 0/0 5 8 '11 1 2 1 5 4 9 A 1 2 0 3 10 0 0 0 T 22 10 9 8 8 2 2 0 Bresnahan, Cobb Smith Matthews Judson Adams Gray Johnson Gerhardt Jones Team Totals ILLINOIS FG/A FT/A R A T ,3/5 0/0 8 5 ,5 3/9 2/2 4 1 8 7/12 2/3 8 2 16 5/13 1/1 5 2 11 1/6, 5/5 2 1 7 1/5 1/1 8 1 3 3/6 0/0 1 1 6 1/3 0/0 1 1 2 0/0 0/0 1 0 0 3/4 0/0 0 0 6 4 27/63 11/12 42 14 65 27/68 3/12 42 16 61 AP Photo MICHIGAN GUARD DAVE BAXTER drives against Illini forward Mark Smith (42) in yesterday's 65-61 Wolverine loss. Baxter scored eight points for the game. ore by Periods 26 33 35 61 32 i 65 DROP FIFTH STRAIGHT, 5=3 Gophers keep Blue icers in hole full court EhIwPRESS Leadership, free throws . 0 0 By ERROL SHIFMAN Special to The Daily MINNEAPOLIS - Lost: one Maize and Blue explosive offense in the vicini- ty of Hoover and State approx. Decem- ber 3rd. And information should be di- rected to the Michigan hockey team. Without their offense the Wolverines dropped their fifth league game in a row, 5-3, in a frustrating contest with the Minnesota Gophers. In the last seven games, Michigan has averaged only three goals per game. WE HAVE ALL felt the frustration of trying to open a new bottle for a long period of time and then watching a friend come by and open it with one twist. Each time Michigan buzzed around the Gopher net to no avail, the Gophers would either gain a breakaway or come down ice and take a good clean shot. For example, Minnesota scored on two of its first three shots. Michigan had carried the play until Gopher cen- ter Steve Christoff fired a shot from the blue line and put the light on behind Blue goalie Rick Palmer. Two and one-half minutes later at 7:04, Gopher Phil Verchota took a pret- ty behind the back pass from Christoff and slid it past Palmer. Minnesota led 2-0 and that was all for the Michigan goalie. PALMER PULLED himself out a minute later and gave way'to Frank Zimmerman. Michigan appeared to have found its scoring punch when Gopher Dave Ter- williger was penalized for flipping the puck into the crowd after play had stopped. Dan Lerg scored a goal, the Wolverines first power-play tally in their last 23 attempts, at 9:37. ' Twenty-two seconds later John Olver knotted the score from Gordie Ham- pson and Mark Miller. Michigan was . back but nothing had changed. That was to be the Wolverines only serious challenge. THE BLUE defense lapsed in the last six minutes of the first period. Min- nesota put the light on twice more as Wolverine defensemen stood around helpless. Minnesota's 4-2 lead would hold up. The fine goaltending of Zimmerman kept the game from turning into a rout and his performance gained him star- ting honors for this afternoon's re- match. "Zimmerman played very well," signed coach Dan Farrell, "but when you give two goals on the first three shots, you're digging out of a hole." Michigan had a chance to climb out of the hole and cut the Gopher lead which had been upped to 4-2 midway through the second period. The puck sat in an open Minnesota crease for what seemed like a year. Left winger Mark Miller stood only a foot away but could not contend with a Minnesota defender . . and other problems By ERNIE DUNBAR Special to The Daily CHAMPAIGN Throughout this early portion of the Big Ten basketball schedule, Michi- gan had been plagued with a number of inconsistencies resulting in the team sporting a 3-1 conference mark and an overall record of 8-4. First is the fact that in no two consecutive games have the Wolverines had the same player as their high scorer. This seems to have left the team looking for the leader they possessed in Rickey Green or Phil Hubbard during last year's championship season. But if Michigan can continue to find that one player who has a sparkling game time after time, then this season might prove to be respectable. If they cannot it could spell trouble. In yesterday's 65-61 loss to Illinois it was freshman Mike McGee once again leading the team in scoring. This time he netted 22 points. At the beginning of the season it was co-captain Dave Baxter who was pacing the scoring attack. Center Joel Thompson has cashed in for high scoring honors four times, and forward Alan Hardy has been top point man twice. "In a way that's kind of good," said Hardy, who canned 10 points against Illinois. "It's like your father, when you are in trouble you go to someone you can rely on. But it doesn't have to be just scoring,"' Hardy continued. "It can be either a steal or an assist." A problem which surfaced in the Illinois game which Michigan coach Johnny Orr and his players had failed to elaborate on previously, is the job being done by the officials. In battling the Illini, Michigan was hurt by a technical foul on Baxter with Illinois ahead 62-59 and only 1:05 remaining in the game. Baxter had driven the baseline and was dumped as he went up for the shot. But no foul was called on an Illinois player. As the Illini's Rob Judson grabbed the rebound, Baxter cussed at the official and drew the technical. "That was the play of the game," said a furious Baxter. "If I'd have hit that(shot we would have been down by one. But as it turned out, I get called for the technical and we're down by four. "I just exploded," Baxter said of his remark to the officials. "I'm just sick of all the inconsistent calls. It's been happening all year long and its been happening ever since I've been playing at the University of Michigan." Orr echoed his co-captain's comments with his own attack on the of- ficials. "That was a critical call on Baxter," Orr said. "Its very hard to con- tain yourself when you get knocked to the floor. But because he (the official) makes a mistake he calls it on my kid (Baxter). "Do you think he'd (the official) call a technical foul on Baxter like that in Ann Arbor?" Orr asked reporters in the post game press conference. "If he did he'd sure have a hard time getting out of our tunnel. That's what makes it tough to win on the road." But according to Illinois coach Lou Henson, the officiating was just dan- dy. "I don't know about that one, I was on the other end of the floor," Henson said in reference to the Baxter call. "It was good officiating. They might have missed one, but they missed them both ways. I don't think we got any breaks on the officiating. The crew did a good job," Henson said with a straight face. Add to this then problems the Wolverines have had with fpee throws. Against Iowa, Michigan went the entire first half without attempting a free throw and then scored 14 points in the second half from charity tosses. In Champaign, the free throws were a contributing factor to the loss. "We couldn't make the free throws," said Orr whose team went 3-12 from the line. "If we'd have made them we would have been OK." It's impossible to sit here in the early part of the Big Ten season and make an accurate prediction whether any of these inconsistencies will be one of the downfalls of this year's Michigan basketball team. But if they con- tinue it sure can't help any. BIG TEN ROUNDUP: Hoosiers fade i*n Badger blaze and his blind pokes were in vain. That was the turning point in the game. THE LAST TWO periods saw some good chances for both sides but were mainly up and down hockey. Both defenses tightened up and the goal work of Gopher Paul Janaszak and Zimmerman was really the only excite- ment left. Gopher defenseman Jim Boo notched the only goal of the second stanza at 13:32. Boo let a slapshot go from the blue line which sailed high into the right corner of the net behind a partially screened Zimmerman. Michigan forward Miller rounded out the scoring in the third period. Continu- ing his fine play, Miller skated in all alone on Janaszak after picking the puck up at his own blue line and flipped it in. FARRELL CITED the line of Ham- pson, Olver and Miller as a bright spot in a dismal day but was at a loss for a solution to the problem. When asked about possible line changes for the rematch, Farrell joked, "We'll just put all the names in a hat and pick out three at a time." Minnesota coach Herb Brooks was elated with his team's victory but says they will have to play better this after- noon to sweep the series.; The Gophers played without regular defenseman Bob Bergloff and captain Rob Larson but had no real problem handling the Wolverines' feeble offense. Cold feet FIRST PERIOD scoring: . MN--Christoff(llarre) 4:27; 2.MN- Verchota (Christoff, Boo) 7:04; 3. MI - Lerg (Maurer, Thayer) 8:35; 4. MI - Olver (Miller, Ham- pson) 9:59; 5. MN - Harrer (Christoff. Verchota) 14:24; 6.MN--Strobel 18:53. Penalties: MN-Terwilliger (delay of game) 8:35. SECOND PERIOD Scoring: 7. MN - Boo (Joe Baker, Harrer) 13:32. Penalties: MI - Turner (elbowing) 6:32; MN - Verchota (elbowing) 6:51; MN - Verchota (cross- checking) 10:35; MI - Turner (cross-checking) 14:00; MN-Laterneau (holding) 16:59. THIRD PERIOD Scoring: 8. MI - Miller 13:04. Penalties: MI - Todd (slashing) 4:48; MN - Bill Baker (slashing) 4:48; MI-Todd (tripping) 11:04. SAVES MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Arnold Gaines, scoring a career high of 25 points, sparked Wisconsin to a 78-65 victory over 18th-ranked Indiana in Big Ten basketball yesterday. The score was tied 12 times in the first half of the regionally televised contest, including 37-37 at the inter- mission. Wisconsin surged to an early sec- ond half advantage, but the Hoosiers fought back and grabbed a 55-54 lead. Wayne Radford, who scored 10 of his MSU rolls ontenstandings-MSU rollson II - I I w Michigan State MICHIGAN Purdue Illinois Minnesota Ohio State Iowa Wisconsin Indiana Northwestern W 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 0 L 0 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 GB 1 1 2 2. 2 2 3 3 4 For more Sports see Page 9 EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) - Greg Kelser whipped in 23 points and Jay Vincent added 19, including the clinching basket with 10 seconds left, to give 12th-ranked Michigan State a 67-63 victory over Northwestern yes- terday in a regionally televised game. The victory left the Spartans in at least a tie for first place with a 4-0 record in the conference and 12-1 overall, while Northwestern slipped to 0-4 and 4-9. Michigan State mounted a 30-13 lead in the first half before the Wildcats, led by Mike Campbell (23 points) and Tony Allen, (22 points) made a comeback and closed to within one point with just over a minute left to play. But two clutch baskets by State's Vincent in the final 60 seconds iced the Spartan's surpris- ingly narrow victory. Frosh phenom Earvin Johnson of State was held to only nine points in the gamb. 14 points in the second half, was largely responsible for Indiana's second half showing. Indiana's Mike Woodson, who carried an 18.7 aver- age into the game, led the Hoosiers with 18 points. It was Wisconsin's first triumph over Indiana in Madison since a 94-87 double overtime decision March 2, 1971. Saturday's results Illinois 65, MICHIGAN 61 Iowa 66, Purdue 60 Minnesota 72, Ohio State 47 Wisconsin 78, Indiana 65 Michigan State 67, Northwestern 63 Next Thursday's games Wisconsin at MICHIGAN Illinois at Minnesota Purdue at Michigan State Iowa at Northwestern Ohio State at Indiana 1 2 Palmer (MI)............. ....I X Zimmerman (MI)............ 12 Janaszak (MN)..............7 12 Score by Periods 1 2 MICHIGAN................. 2 0 Minnesota................... 4 1 3 X 9 T 28 28 3 l 0 SPOR TS OF THE DAILY: North Carolina singed by hot Blue Devils By The Associated Press DURHAM, N.C. - Mike Gminksi scored a game high of 29 points as Duke upset No. 2-ranked North Carolina 92-84 yesterday in an Atlantic Coast Con- ference basketball game. The game was a wild see-saw affair with North Carolina leading at halftime 47-46. IN THE SECOND HALF, Duke broke the game open, outscoring the Tar Heels 12-4 within four minutes. North Carolina came back to within seven points, 71-64, with 10:41 remaining. 'North Carolina is now 12-2 and Duke is 12-3. Both'r are 3-1 in the conference. *. * * while JAck Givens added 17. Guard Jordy Holtberg and forward Durand Macklin each had 16 for LSU. * * * Irish bullish ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Dave Batton and Bruce Flowers each scored a pair of baskets to trigger a 13-0 spurt midway in the second half and Notre Dame held on for a 79-78 victory over St. Bonaven- ture yesterday. Batton, a 6-foot-9 senior forward, finished with 24 points as the taller Irish dominated the foul-plagued Bonnies inside. BEHIND THE SCORING of 6-6 senior Greg San- MEMPHIS STATE trailed 33-29 at halftime and 50-45 with nine minutes left. But the Tigers out- scored Cincinnati 9-2 in the next three minutes for a 54-52 lead with six minutes remaining and never trailed again. Isbell, a 6-foot-8 sophomore center, also was the game's leading rebounder with 10. Bearcats center Pat Cummings led Cincinnati with 18 points and nine rebounds. Wings upend Sabers .. DETRQIT-The Detroit Red Wings won a hockey game in Detroit last night, and though they weren't nlaving the Montrea lCanndians. their R-2 uwn or