Page Ten
Touching all
the bases
____________________Bill Stieg
Johnny Orr 4...
... Digger Phelps 0
LOUISVILLE
THEY DID IT again!
There's something about Notre Dame that brings out the
best in Michigan basketball. Digger Phelps, that suave, smooth
man with every hair in place for the TV cameras, must be tear-
ing out that hair just thinking about Michigan.
He hasn't beaten Michigan and Johnny Orr in four tries now
and that's enough to make him wonder if he has been doing
it wrong all these years.
You were supposed to find the biggest, strongest high
schoolers you can, right? You put green shoes on them,
stitch "Notre Dame" on their jersey and watch them grow
to incredible heights fed by one of the most powerful prop-
aganda machines this side of the Great Wall of China.
Well, Michigan didn't fall for that.
The little Wolverines ran circles around the heftier Irish ...
when it counted. It's hard to figure out these Michigan players.
They can lose to such mediocrities as Illinois, or match the best
teams step for step, depending on their mood.
Last night, the mood was right. Taught all week to hate
Notre Dame, the Wolverines entered the game sky high and had
no intention of coming down until the celebrating was over early
this morning. It was a question of how badly they wanted to do it.
Staton comes through again
And they did it. They did it as a team, too, a truly im-
pressive group effort that featured several heroes. If possible,
forget for a moment Ricky Green's incredible offensive per-
formance in the second half and Wayman Britt's gutsy defense
and hot-handed offense that kept Michigan together all game
long. And consider Tom Staton.
This guy is a freshman, and he was thrown into the ring
with one of Notre Dame's legitimate stars, Adrian Dantley.
Dantley, a mammoth bone-cruncher who is as easy to stop as a
freight train, proved devastating inside. Wayman Britt, defender
extraordinaire, fouled out trying to stop him.
So in came Staton. He flew to the hoop for a twisting
layup to put Michigan up, 66-64. He stole a Dantley pass and
broke away for a layup to give his team a 73-70 lead at 2:39.
He lost the ball once but streaked downeourt to save a sure
basket.
He outjumped the tallest of the Irish for a key rebound in
the next moment. And, oh yes-Dantley didn't score in the last
four minutes.
Now freshmen just don't do this. Not in the national tourna-
ment. And not against Notre Dame, for goodness sake.
'A stupid pass'
"Staton did a hell of a job," said Britt in the noisy Michigan
locker room. "He came in there loose, almost too loose for a
while. He was pretty well relaxed, and that's important. But it
was the team defense that made the difference."
Staton agreed. "I had great weak side help. Every time
he (Dantley) had the bal, we had two men on him. The
coaches told me to force him to the middle because that
was where the help was."
Staton didn't get any help on the clutch steal, though-
except from Dantley, that is.
"He just threw a stupid pass," smiled Staton. "He thoughtY
he could lay in an easy pass, maybe because I'm a freshman.1
It was like he was throwing it to me.1
"I was looking for it all the way. He just looked at his man,I
and I could see it coming."
So exhilerating was the victory that even talkative assistant
coach Bill Frieder was almost at a loss for words. "Let's just
say that it's a pleasure to beat Notre Dame and Digger Phelps.
Ever since he made that comment about Johnny Orr's idea of
defense ('beating you 103-98'), we've looked forward to beating
them.
"Staton was outstanding. He's a Wayman Britt type player.
He'll be a great star for Michigan."
Britt wasn't really surprised at the win or at Staton's greatf
job. "We just ran them down, tired them out," said Britt. 1
Did he help Staton much? "I knew he would be coming in
for me. I just told him, 'Do it, baby.' "
He certainly did.t
THE MICHIGAN DAILY Friday, March 19, 1976
Clutc!hlast minute free t rw
stop
Dant ley-ed Notre
ame
Face Tigers in regional final
(Continued from Page 1) Notre Dame inbounded the ball
But p r e s s u r i n g defense with 2:43 to go, Michigan led,
brought about five Notre Dame 71-70.
turnovers in those last four Tom Staton broke suddenly to
minutes. Hubbard's second steal the ball, stole it and scored to
and subsequent layup of that , put the Irish in a hole.
stretch brought the Wolverines;
to within one at halftime, 41-40. AFTER WILLIAMS drove for
The second half was played at two, the Wolverines came down,
perhaps the most furious pace waiting for a good shot. With
of any Michigan game this sea- 1:34 remaining, they got one,
son.but as Green drove the base-
WITH THREE fouls each on
Grote,Hubbard and Wayman
Britt, the Blue came out in a
zone which the Irish shot over
and under to increase their
lead to 60-52 with 11:36 remain-
ing.
But jumpers by Britt and
Green, two free throws each by
Green and John Robinson and
a twisting Green drive gave the
Blue their first lead of the half
with 9:07 left.
The two teams traded baskets
for several minutes, and when
line his foot edged out of
bounds.
His team endangered, Robin-
son suddenly stole the ball and
drove downcount.
Pressured by Notre D a m e 's
Bruce Flowers, Robinson stop-,
ped and Flowers knocked t li e
ball away. But Grote, who had
injured his knee diving for a
loose ball in the first half,
scrambled after the ball and fed
it back to Robinson.
ROBINSON put up the shot,
t
i
1
i
I
was fouled, and then watched
the ball hang on the rim for sev-
eral moments before falng
through. He converted the f*)ul
shot for the three point olay.
"They kept running the gameI
play - a double pick on my
man," said a tired but happy
Robinson. "I just tried to antiri-
pate it, and it paid off. Arid
Grote hustled just great on tlhe
play."
The play gave the Blue a 76-
72 lead with 1:07 remaiaing. But
Williams drove for a quick two,
and when Ray Martin stole the
ball from Staton with 43 sec-
onds remaining, the Irish had a
chance to tie.
BUT STATON fouled Williams
before he could shoot and the
Notre Dame guard missed the
first of the one-and-one. Staton
grabbed the rebound and Mich-
igan controlled the ball until
Grote's free throws.
The Wolverines survived the
31-point performance of All-
A m e r i c a n Adrian Dantley,
whose inside moves forced Britt
to foul out with 8:46 to go.
"Adrian Dantley is the best
offensive player we've seen all
year," said Orr. "He charges
a little, I think, but when
you're that good I guess.you
deserve some breaks."
"I don't want to bad mouth
anybody," said Britt, "but some
of those (foul) calls could have
gone the other way. But we won
the game, and that's all that
matters."
"Theydidn't quit," said a be-
leaguered Dantley. "They de-
served to win the game."
The Wolverines face Missouri
Saturday at 12:15 p.m. for the
Midwest Regional title. Tickets
will be available at the arena
in Louisville for $7 apiece.
Irish eyes are weeping,
MICHIGAN
FG FT R
Britt 6-9 0-0 3
Robinson 5-13 5-6 8
Hubbard 5-13 1-2 10
Green 8-16 4-4 4
Grote 4-10 6-6 4
Staton 3-6 0-1 2
Baxter 1-5 0-0 1
Hardy 0-1 0-0 1
Bergen 0-0 0-0 0
Team Rebounds 3
TOTALS 32-73 16-19 36
Halftime score: Notre Dame 4
Michigan 40
NOTRE DAME
AP Photo
RICKEY GREEN (24) dumps the ball off under the basket
after Notre Dame's Ray Martin cut off his baseline drive.
The Irish could not stop Green all the time last night in
Michigan's thrilling victory.
F T FG
G2 15{Flowers 3-6
4 11 Dantley 12-19
1 20 Knight 1-4
5 14 Martin 1-2
0 2 Williams 6-13
0 0 Batton 2-8
0 0 Paterno 5-9
Rencher 1-1
20 80 Carpenter 0-0
1, Team Rebounds
TOTALS 31-62
FT
0-0
7-8
0-0
0-1
3-4
2-2
0-0
2-3
0-0
14-18
R
9
5
5
2
13
4
0
0
2
42
F T
5 6
1 31
4 2
5 2
3 15
2 6
2 10
0 4
1 0
23 76
MARQUETTE SLIPS BY WESTERN:
'U
By United Press International
BATON ROUGE, La. - Two
free throws by Tom Abernathy
with 14 seconds "left last night
finally blunted an Alabama rally
and pushed Indiana to a 74-69
win over the Crimson Tide,
sending the undefeated and No.
1 Hoosiers into the NCAA Mid-
east regional finals.
Alabama had trailed by as
many as 12 in the second half,
but rushed back to take the
lead at 69-68 with 3:45 remain-
ing on a 12-foot jump shot by
Keith McCord.j
Indiana regained the leadj
with 1:54 left on a bucket byI
All-American Scott May, but
the Hoosiers did not wrap up
the game until Abernathy hit
both ends of a one-and-one
foul attempt that increased
the Indiana lead to 72-69.
Bob Wilkerson made two more
free throws with six seconds
left to provide the final margin.
May scored 25 points to lead
Indiana to its 29th win without
a loss this season. He helpedI
the Hoosiers jump to a 9-0 lead
rms
IDailv
ipronts
NIGHT EDITORS:
MARCIA KATZ
SCOTT LEWIS
over seventh-ranked Alabam
to start the game and kept In
diana in control for much o
the contest.
But the Crimson Tide cam
back on the shooting of cente
Leon Douglas and guard T. R
Dunn.
Douglas, however, was hel,
in check until the final rush b;
the Crimson Tide and finishe
with only 12 points. Dunn hit 1
to lead Alabama in scoring.
** *
Western succumbs
BATON ROUGE, La.-Spark
plug guard Butch Lee and Mat
rice "Bo" Ellis helped No.
bac k
Marquette hold off stubbor
Western Michigan last night, 6;
57, and send the Warriors int
a long awaited battle in th
NCAA Mideast regional fina
against top-ranked Indiana.
Western Michigan overcam
a typically swarming Marquett
defense to stay even with the
Warriors and held the lead a
51-50 with seven minutes left.
a But in quick succession
- Marquette came up with bas-
f kets from Lee, Ellis, Jerome
Whitehead and Earl Tatum to
e boost the Warriors lead to
Te
ide
n 58-53.
2- The Broncos came back to
o reduce the deficit to one point
e at 58-57, but Ellis hit a key
Is bucket just under two minutes
remaining to send Marquette in-
e to Saturday's regional final
e showdown with the Hoosiers.
e Western Michigan was paced
at by 6-8 junior center Tom Cut-
ter, who scored 21 points, eight
of those came in the final 10
minutes. Jeff Tyson added 18
to make the Western Michigan
scoring effort an almost strictly
two-man show.
Mizzou trips Tech;
face Blue Saturday
By KATHY HENNEGHAN
Special to the Daily
LOUISVILLE, - Missouri, the Big Eight champion, de-
feated Texas Tech, 86-75, last night in the first game of
the regional semi-finals.
Texas Tech saw its chances of victory dwindle when
center Rick Bullock fouled out with 8:47 remaining in the
contest. Bullock was the mainstay of Tech attack with 23
points and 14 rebounds.
Tech put on a zone press and cut the Missouri
lead to seven, 77-70, with 4:20 remaining but it was to no
avail. Missouri scored five unanswered points to pull
ahead 82-70, and Tech could not come back.
Tech shot a miserable 35.6 percent from the floor
while Missouri connected on 53.6 per cent. The Tigers
burst out to an early lead, 45-36 at the half, scoring
10 straight points in the second period.
Missouri was keyed by Willie Smith a 6-2 guard similar
to Michigan's own Ricky Green. Smith hit for thirty points
to lead all scorers and dished out seven assists.
His total included a 7 for 9 effort from the floor
in the first half. Smith had plenty of scoring help from
his teammates as Jim Kennedy and Tim Anderson had
. 15 points apiece.
Missouri will now face Michigan in the regional
final. Texas Tech closed it's season with a 25-6 record,
while the victory raised the Tigers' record to 25-5.
".:...::V:.Y t::...::":::{":tl::":" J"" iJ:":i' ::'1:.....:Y::::... ...........::t:""J:::. :J:: f:'>......
ARIZONA UPSETS NEVADA IN OT
Rutgers,
VMI advance
I
SCORES II
Team play sparks
exciting comeback
MICHIGAN HIGH SCHOOL
BASKETBALL
Quarterfinals
Class A
Saginaw 64, GrandsRapids Creston 50'
Pontiac Central 48, Detroit Denby 47
Detroit Catholic 90, Detroit
Mackenzie 67
Lansing Everett 59, Detroit
Northeastern 58
Class B
River Rouge 80, Royal Oak Shrine 45
Saginaw Buena Vista 70,
Ironwood 53
Flint Beecher 72, Tecumseh 63
Coldwater 57, Grand Rapids west
Catholic 52
Class C
Buchanan 91, Shelby 67
Stockbridge 60, Pontiac Catholic 57
Unionville-Sebewaing 88,
Beaverton 66
N 66 Roscommon 40 ':
By The Associated Press The Keydets, after trailing s
GREENSBORO, N.C. - R e - DePaul 33-31 at the half, built b
serves Abdel Anderson a n d a 62-51 lead with 2:20 to play. t
Steve Hefele combined for 33 DePaul, which had scored two
points - picking up the slack points in 7 minutes, then tt
when All-American Phil Sel- strung together the last 11 of g
lers scored only eight - to lead regulation for a tie at 62, bring- R
unbeaten Rutgers to a 93-79 vic- ing on overtime.
tory over Connecticut last night Randy Hooks' basket with four
in the NCAA East Regional seconds left tied the score for'
basketball semifinals. the Blue Demons.
The Scarlet Knights, ranked the e K overtime R ppar trp
fourth nationally, won their 30th theaKetsaheaddedhtwdi m
awying basket and then added two
game in a row by pulling away;free throws for a four-point r
from the Huskies with a 9-0 lead which they never sur- fi
spurt early in the second half rendered. n
for a 71-57 lead. Fifty-seven personals w e r e s
Sellers, scoreless in t h e called, 35 against DePaul, which L
first half, hit only four of lost five men on fouls. Among V
13 shots as he matched his them was Ron Norwood, who b
season law, made against Co-!----- --- -
lumbia.
Freshman Anderson led Rut
added 14. Ed Jordan and Mike
Daveny each scored 18 and
Hollis Copeland 16 for Rutgers. T[ . .#.- - 1
co
)el
im
: N
er
le
he
L
na
-all
re
'g
tu
as
re
al
ored 23 points and sparked the
dated rally that forced over-
ne.
VMI, the only unranked team;
win last night, will face Rut-
rs Saturday for the Eastern
gional Crown and a berth in
semi-finals in Philadelphia.
* * *
egas vanishes
LOS ANGELES - Guard Her-f
an Harris led a second-h a 1 f
ly nd then hit four clutch
e throws in overtime last
ht as 15th-ranked Arizona
inned third-ranked Nevada-
s Vegas 114-109 in the NCAA
st Regional college basket-
1 tournament.
Harris brought the Wildcats
back from a three-point de-
ficit in regulation time with
two cvlutch fallaway j u m p
shots. Then his free throw
with 14 seconds to play tied
the game at 103-103 and sent
it into overtime.
In the overtime, Arizona con-
nected on 11 of 15 free throw
attempts - without scoring a
basket - and held off the Reb-
els, who could hit but four bas-
kets.
The wild game began with
cool Arizona controlling t h e
tempo behind guard Jim Rap-
pis. The Wildcats went to the
dresing room at half-time with
a four-point lead.
By RICH LERNER
Special to the Daily
LOUISVILLE - "We aren't going to wor-
ry about Missouri until tomorrow. We're just
going to relax and think about tonight," said
Michigan basketball coach Johnny Orr, after
the Wolverines' win over Notre Dame in
the NCAA Midwest Regional tournament last
night.
Michigan faces Missouri tomorrow in the
regional final, but last night the Tigers stood
far from the Wolverines' minds. The Michi-
gan players and coaches alike savored the
80-76 victory over the Fighting Irish with
delight.
NO SINGLE play or player stands out
in the game as being exciting, with each
Michigan player making a generous contri-
bution to the team win. Every starter scored
in double figures.
Captain and defensive whiz Wayman Britt
had his hands full with Notre Dame All-
American Adrian Dantley on the Irish end
of the floor. But Britt, the senior from Flint,
shot a torrid 5-6 from the outside in the
first half and kept the Wolverines within
striking range when Notre Dame grabbed
an 11 point lead.
After suffering through a dismal first
half, Rickey Green played the best ten min-
badly that you get tight.
I was driving a little
more aggressive."
In the
more
second half
and I was
STEVE GROTE erased the memory of a
missed crucial free throw at Indiana by
cashing in on both ends of a one-and-one
,free throw situation to give the Wolverines
a four point lead with 27 seconds left.
"Dantley was talking to some of our play-
ers and laughing at us in the first half when
they were winning," said Grote. "So I told
everybody at halftime that we would laugh
last-and we did," he grinned.
Steals by Tom Staton and John Robinson
within 90 seconds of each other dealt crucial
blows to Irish fortunes. The pilfers enabled
the Wolverines to grab a four point lead with
less than two minutes to play.
"I just kind of laid back and he (Dantley)
threw it out there for me. He just threw such
a 'diddily-doo' pass," said Staton with a nod
of amazement.
STATON CLAMPED down on Dantley late
in the game, having taken over the assign-
ment when Britt fouled out with 8:46 to play.
Dantley scored only two points in the last
eight minutes.
"Those steals are what borught us back
GU2'
/!9,0 .
Negaunee w, iuc mu U
Class D Anderson also grabbed 11 r e -
1. wC llt
Maple City Glen Lake 63, od.
McBain Northern Christian 62 bud
Harbor Springs 77. North
Dickinson 68 1M rm By The Associated Press
Detroit East Catholic 72, " tim5 NEW YORK-Melvin Watkins hit the go-ahead
Gallen 69 (OT) GREENSBORO - Will Bynum basket with 30 seconds left and North Carolina-
Detroit DePorres 80, Fowler 5 scored 22 points as unranked Charlotte's Cinderella team held on down the
NIT Semifinals Virginia Military blew an 11- stretch to upset North Carolina State 80-79 last
UNC-Charlotte 80, N.C state 79 point lead in the closing min-
Kentucky 79, Providence 78 utes, then came back in over- nightind join tu natena. -
NHL time to trim 17th-ranked DePaul National Invitation Tournament.
Detroit 6, St. Louis 3 71-6 lt im k DThe Wolfpack had a crack at winning the
,S.Philadelphia 3, Vancouver 2716latng.
Boston 5, Kansas City 2 erRon Carter added 21 points game in the final seconds but Phil Spence and
C NBA for VMI, which got four clutch Glenn Sudhop missed inside shots to preserve
Washington 110, Kansas City 102 overtime points from Curt UNC-Charlotte's win.
Phoenix 106, Detroit 100 Repparte. The 49ers, who earlier in the season lost a
:":...::::;.::..:":.:::::; ::;::: ::::::.. 63-60 game to N.C. State, had taken a 70-63
lead with 5:35 left on a shot by Watkins, before
NCAA RESULTS the wild finish in front of a roaring crowd of
11,444 at Madison Square Garden.
THE WOLFPACK, with star forward Kenny
Carr and guard Al Green on the bench with
Eist iidetist five fouls, relied on Phil Spence in the closing
moments. Spence hit a basket with 5:00 left
rC.C harlotte,I
byone intI
Wildcats win at buzzer
NEW YORK-Larry Johnson scored a field
goal in the last second to provide Kentucky with
a dramatic 79-78 basketball victory over scrappy
Providence in the semifinals of the NIT last
night.
The Wildcats earned a berth in Sunday's fi-
nals at Madison Square Garden against North
Carolina-Charlotte.
JOHNSON'S MAD dash for the winning basket
capped the most exciting game of the NIT. He
roared down the court after taking a feed from
center Mike Phillips for the winning bucket
after Providence seemed to have the game
locked up with a 78-77 lead with seven seconds
left.
Providence had wiped out two large Kentucky
lDads to get back in the game. The Wildcats
led by 18 points in the first half and again by
_
I I