Page Eight

1 HE MICHIGAN DAILY

Sunday, March 21., 19-16

Page EIght IHE MICHIGAN DAILY Sunday, March 21, 191b


Blue outhustles

Tigers,

9-88

By BILL STIEG
Special To The Daily
LOUISVILLE - For the
first time since the glory!
years of C a z z i e Russell
more than a decade ago,
t h e Michigan Wolverines
have reached the final
four.
The speedy and spirited
Wolverines o u t r a n Mis-
souri's Tigers to win the
Midwest Regional Cham-
pionship, 95-88, yesterday
in Freedom Hall.
Michigan thus earned the
right to play in the national
semifinals this Saturday in Phil-
adelphia a g a i n s t undefeated
E a s t e r n Regional Champion
Rutgers, the first time a Mich-
igan team has advanced this far
since 1965.
"I couldn't be any happier,"
said a jubilant Johnny Orr,
coach of the 24-6 Wolverines.
"This is a super group of little
guys. They are super kids."
Orr's "super kids" were just
that yesterday as they came
from behind for the fourth
straight game to knock the Big
Eight champs out of the tour-,
nament.
Missouri, led by the nearly
unstoppable All - American
guard Willie Smith, steadily

Advance to

NCAA final four

scrapped away at Michigan's
13-point halftime buldge, and
broke into its first lead of the
game on a Smith jumper with
8:21 left. Smith, who finished
with a game high 43 points,
canned a three point play
moments later to push the
Tigers' margin to 76-71.
Tickets for the final rounds
of the NCAA basketball play-
offs in Philadelphia will go
on sale at the ticket office
(corner of State and Hoover)
8:30 a.m. Monday. The $27.50
charge includes admission to
all four games, with a limit
of one ticket per person. The
University has been allotted
1,000 tickets.
But in the end, Michigan
showed once again why it is
one of the nation's top teams.
Down the stretch, with the pres-
sure on and its entire season on
the line, Michigan turned it on.
Rickey Green, the Wolverines'
answer to Smith, penetrated for
a couple of buckets and John
Robinson swished t w o free
throws to tie the game at 77.1
Two more free shots by Robin-;

son put Michigan ahead again, trailed by only
79-78, at 5:51. left.
From then on it was a matter Michigan res
of poise, endurance, and one of offense and
the most crucial ingredients in guard Dave Ba
crucial games-good free throw a great game,;
shooting. high 18 points.
While two Tigers were foul- Steve Grote, wx
ing out, Michigan was con- 7:22 trying toE
trolling the tense action and Baxter flipp
making six of six free throws. throws, but Mis
At the four minute mark, the with a short on
Wolverines made their move. Sims.aA heads
ing pass from7
John Robinson jammed in his son underneat
own miss to make it 83-80. Mis- back up by f
souri missed a shot, Phil Hub- minute left.
bard grabbed one of his season Smith, in al
high 18 rebounds and Wayman back, lost con
Britt canned a 16-foot jumper. ble and turne
Then came the kind of key This time Gr
play consistent winners always and made both
seem to make. Smith, trying to by Missouri's
bring his team back within and two mor
three, spun into the lane and throws finishe
went up with a short shot. All five Mic
But Britt, in a classic exam- the court score
ple of team defense, leaped, minutes, a fit
knocked the ball out of Smith's true team vil
hand and batted it to Rickey totals say en
Green. Green streaked down Robinson 21, H
courthand layedrin the basket ter 18. Exceptf
that hurt Missouri the most. . down in thes
At 2:39: Michigan 87, Missouri Wolverines pla
80. That basket cappeda 16-4 they didwhen
Michigan burst which began at Dame Thursday
7:34 when Missouri held its five "We're a p
point lead. said Robinson,
"I was helping out Rickey," with 16 rebound
said Britt, the senior captain. hard and come
"The only way to stop him were behind, I
(Smith) was to go up and time there was
block the shot. I was too late could do it. Wh
to take charge so I went up tight, we wok
and blocked it." what was going
The T i g e r s weren't quite "When youg
through, though. Smith (who fered Green,
else) scored, stole the ball, sometimes not
scored a g a i n, and Missouri been down a o
RUTGE
In 1tdi anIta

y 87-84 with 1:21
sumed its delay
Missouri fouled
axter, who played
scoring a career
He had replaced
'ho fouled out at
guard Smith.
ed in two free
ssouri came back
e-hander by Scott
-up, press-break-
Baxter to Robin-
h put Michigan
five with half a
hurry to charge
trol of his drib-
d the ball over.
een was fouled
h shots. A layup
Jim Kennedy
re Baxter free
d the scoring.
higan players on
d in the last five
ting finish to a
ctory. The point
ough: Green 23,1
Hubbard 20, Bax-
for the slight let-
second half, the
yed as well as
they upset Notre
iy night.
pressure team,"
who came away
s. "We can work'
back. When we,
saw how muchI
and I knew we
en the score got
ke up and saw I
g on."
get a lead," of-
"you play, but
as hard. We've
Jt, but we've al-

ways had the extra in us to
come back. But we can't be do-
ing that in Philadelphia."
Credit the Tigers with a
determined s h o w i n g, too.
Michigan, boarding and break-
ing at the start as well as
they ever have, led once by
by 18. Hubbard and Robinson
each had 11 rebounds in the
first half, compared to 21 by
the entire Tiger squad.{
Missouri bounced back well,
getting more rebounds and 29
second half points from Smith.
"It's hard to maintain mo-
mentum," said Orr. "But it was
not so much a let down as
Smith's super play. The. big
thing, though, was he only
scored twice in the last five
minutes and he turned it over
at the end."
"They came out and played
hard," said Britt. "They wanted
to win that game. They played
hard in the second half. We got
back in it, though."
"Smith hadn't performed
like he's capable of in the
first half," said assistant
Coach Bill Frieder. "He show-

ed what he's capable of in the
second half. It's a credit to
the kids that they held in
there. It was a nice job."
More t h a n anything else,
Michigan's rebounding was the
key factor in the first half. If
a team can rebound, it can run.
"If they (Missouri) don't get
the boards, they don't get sec-
ond shots and we can run," said
Hubbard. "We're small, but
we're good jumpers. When we
play together as a team, there's
no telling what we can do."
"We got started wrong in
the first half," said Missouri
coach Norm Stewart. "We
made a tremendous come-
back, had the game, and
missed the free throws. Mich-
igan came back well. They
are so quick and they've got
a five man team. They are
gonna do well."
Hubbard a n d Green were
named to the all-tournament
team, along with Notre Dame's
Adrian Dantley, Texas Tech's
Rick Bullock, and Smith. Smith
was voted outstanding player.
"Missouri's only got one play-
er," said Green. "You can't win
with one man shooting. Every-
one's got to get involved in the
offense. Smith is one of the
best, but he's not going to
Philly."

Write ya from' Philly, Willie

OF
by Rich Lerner
Conditioning, endurance...
... keep Blue running
LOUISVILLE
ALL'S WELL that ends well.
For the fourth straight game, three in the NCAA tournament,
Michigan came from behind to pull out a victory. At one time
holding 'an 18 point lead in the first half, the Wolverines fell
behind by five with 7:54 to go, 76-71, before storming back to
beat Missouri, 95-88, in yesterday's Midwest regional final.

Kennedy
K. Anderso
Clabon
Currie
Smith
Ray
Sims
M. Anderso
vanRheen
Stalman
Team
TOTALS

MISSOURI
fg fga ft fta reb f
8 10 0 1 8 5
n 2 60375
3 8 1 3 2 5
iS 35 7 11 7 44
6 12 1 2 15 31
n 1 4 1 2 0 4
o o oo o 2

tp
16
4
0
7
43
13
2
3
0
0
88
4is

Britt
Robinson
Hubbard
Green
Grote
Baxter
Staton
Bergen
Hardy
Team
TOTALS

MICHIGAN
fg fga ft fta reb f tp
3 10 1 2 3 3 7
6 12 9 10 16 2 21
8 10 4 7 18 3 20
9 25 5 7 2 4 23
6 12 6 8 5 2 18
1 2 0 0 2 0 2
0 0 0 0 0 2 0
2
35 75 25 34 49 23 95

39 79 10 224

45 29
50, P

Halftime - Michigan
souri 37. A-8,378.

RS, UCLA ALSO WI


keeps

.on mwmm
r

NI
ll1ingi
Knights' lead to 10 points
with 8:30 to play, but got no
closer.
So it's on to Philadelphia,
where Indiana will play UCLA
and Rutgers will meet Michi-
gan in the semifinals next Sa-
turday afternoon. The survivors
play for the championship Mon-I
day night, March 29.

"We sucked it up when we had them," said Wolverine By The Associated Press called on Warriors' Coach Al A basket that appeared to
assistant coach Bill Frieder. Indiana continued its relent- McGuire. hurt Arizona's morale the most,
less march toward the national Burly center Kent Benson however, came with 3:02 to
"We've done that before several times," said a beaming championship with an impres- topped the Hoosiers with 18 play when Townsend tossed one
Johnny Orr. tsive victory over Marquette and points, May had 15 and Aberne- in from 22 feet to give the
In the first round of the NCAA tournament, the Wolverines joined UCLA, Rutgers and long- thy 12. Tatum led Marquette, Bruins an 11-point advantage.
trailed Wichita State by 13 in the second half before rallying to shot Michigan in' advancing to 27-2, with 22 points and Bo Ellis The 15th-ranked Wildcats
extract a 74-73 win on Rickey Green's jumper with six seconds the semifinals of the NCAA added nine. were led by Harris with 18
4Basketball Tournament next points and forwards P h i 1
left. Notre Dame led Michigan Lit- 11 in the regional semifinal'3
ut. cot date led Michigan winning 80-76.s Saturday. UCLA earned the right to Taylor and Fleming with 14
The Hoosiers, 30-0 and ranked meet Indiana in what will be apiece. Townsend had 16 for
Early in the year, the Wolverines posted come-from-behind No. 1, turned back No. 2 Mar- a rematch of the first game the Bruins.
wins over Michigan State and Ohio State. Yesterday, Michigan quette 65-56 to win the Mideast of the season, when the Hoo- Relentless Rutgers, with Mike
outscored the Tigers 24-12 down the stretch to pull out the win. regional at Baton Rouge, La. siers blasted the Bruins 84- Dabney and Ed Jordan each
"We're always strong in the end," said Orr. Michigan retains Defending champion UCLA, 26- 64. scoring 23 points, trimmed up-
their stamina, while both Notre Dame and Missouri tired in the 4 and ranked fifth, overpowered start VMI to run its perfect
Arizona 82-66 in the West re- UCLA led 38-35 at intermis- record to 31-0.
late stages. gional at the Bruins' home court sion and the Wildcats stayed All-American Phil Sellers
Watching Michigan's practices, one might think that it in Los Angeles. close on Herman Harris' long- contributed 16 points and 12 re-
is a track team working out. Racing from one end of the floor No. 4 Rutgers, 31-0, ran by range jump shots and s o m e bounds to round out a big three
to the other, the Wolverines never stop running. That effort Virginia Military 91-75 in the fine offensive rebounding by 6-8 for Coach Tom Young's Scar-
on the days between games paid off this weekend, giving. them East regional at Greensboro, Al Fleming.blettKnights, seodshotl66fr
the extra endurance necessary to hang tough in the crucial N.C. Harris' bomb from the leftI cent in the second half for an
finaly minutgs.ughIndhanawhi-h has lost just corner with 13 minutes to play overall 57 per cent. VMI tap-j
mioes nd fit lastw 5gamsoss cut UCLA's margin to just 50- ered off to 39 per cent in the
"Everybody works hard and really puts forth the effort," ne f isast 6 as es 49, but UCLA's quick sopho- last-half and 43 per cent over-
said captain Wayman Britt, "because whoever is in the best ite. The Hoosiers, despite the more guard, Raymond Town- all.-.
shape will win the game. benching of All-American Scott send, connected for a key bas- VMI, down by 21 points with
"We ran real hard in practice preparing for Missouri and it May with foul problems, broke ket to extend the margin to e y minutes to play and ham-
paid off because we had stamina in the end," said David Baxter, to a 30-19 lead midway through three once again. pered by fouls, cut the Scarlet
who came off the bench to score 18 points. the first half against Mar- ...:..:.:.::::::::: "::..:::s:
"After we got them down in the first half, they had to fight quette. But the scrappy War-!
riors rallied to trail by one, cE
real hard to Let back and that took a lot out of them." SCORES

AP Photo
STEVE GROTE displays some uninhibited Philly fever
following Michigan's 95-88 NCAA Midwest Regional Champion-
ship win over Missouri. The Wolverine's come-from-behind
victory advanced them to a semifinal confrontation with un-
defeated East Regional Champ Rutgers in Philadelphia next
Saturday. Grote fouled out of the game in the second half,
but substitute guard David Baxter came on to tally a career-
high 18 points and help the Blue to its triumph.

Semifinal-bond cagers
savor regional triumph

By ANDY GLAZER
special To The Daily


Missouri shot 72 per cent from the free throw line during the
year, but hit on only 10 of 22 attempts yesterday. Such poor foul
shooting can be partially attributed to fatigue.j
"They looked pretty tired in the end," said Steve Grote.
"They didn't seem to be playing the same game they were
earlier in the second half."
Willie Smith, whose 43 points represented the largest total
scored by an individual against a Michigan team since Rick
Mount played for Purdue, tallied 24 points in the first 12 /minutes
of the second half, but managed only five in the last 7 minutes.
With26 seconds left, Smith doubledribbled with no Michigan de-'
fender near him.
"All the running in practice definitely paid off," said Green.
"I didn't even get tired. I believe Missouri tired a little. I kept
seeing Willie Smith coming down. I knew he had to be tired
because he was making all their points.C
"We knew he (Smith) couldn't hit forever," said Frieder. "He
had to start missing and he did."
"I've never had a team that practices as hard as these
kids here. They really run hard. They have a lot of pep in
practice, and that carries over," said Orr.
Even those players that rarely play in the game go all out in
practice. Lloyd Schinnerer, Bobby Jones and Len Lillard all
work as hard as those that play and the starters benefit from their
effort. When the scout team plays hard, it prepares the starters
that much more for their next opponent.
The regulars realize even those who didn't play yesterday
deserve partial credit for the win. When the Wolverines tore down
the nets at Freedom Hall, each player, starter and substitute
alike, cut one of the cords, as did the senior manager Chuck
Kostantacos.
Yesterday's win was a team victory for the Wolverines,
just like the 23 others they have recorded this season. For
the third year in a row, all five Michigan starters averaged
in double figures.

36-35, at the halt.
The Hoosiers again pulled
away in the second half as May
returned to score 11 points and
give his team a 51-41 advantage
with 10:23 left.
Again Marquette rallied. Forc-
ing Hoosier turnovers, the War-
riors rode the outside shooting
of Earl Tatum to close within
57-54 with 2:18 remaining.
But Marquette's hopes ended
when Tom Abernethy sank a
pair of free throws and the
Hoosiers retained possession of
the ball due to a technical foul

w .. .r . . .. .>:

NCAA Regional Tournaments
Midwest
MICHIGAN 95 Missouri 88
Mideast
Indiana 65, Marquette 56
East
Rutgers 91, VMI 75
west
UCLA 82, Arizona 66
NHL
Detroit 4, Philadelphia 2
Boston 8, N.Y. Rangers 1
N.Y. Islanders 4, Chicago 2
Toronto 7. Washington 3
NBA
Cleveland 107, Atlanta 99
washington 109, New York 104
Buffalo 115. New Orleans 101

Boston 103, Philadelphia 96
High School Basketball
Class A
Det. Catholic Central 68, Lansing
Everett 60
Saginaw 53, Pontiac Central 52
Class B
River Rouge 58, Saginaw Buena
Vista 56
Flint Beecher 75, Coldwater 41
Class C
Buchanan 54, Stockbridge 42
Negaunee 55, Unionville-
Sebawaing 51
Class D
Harbor Springs 86, Maple City
Glen Lake 70
Det. Deporres 61, Det. East
Catholic 46


LOUISVILLE-Philadelphia!
The merely magnificent Michigan basketball
team, fresh off another of its seemingly inevit-
able come-from-behind victories, this one over
Missouri, 95-88, has earned the right to go to
the NCAA finals in the City of Brotherly Love.
Victory is so, so sweet.
"I've been dreaming about this all my life,"
said Rickey Green, who led the Wolverines with
23 points yesterday. "I was watching Kentucky
and Syracuse in the finals last year, when I was
in junior college, and I just really wanted to be
there myself."
"I'VE BEEN to Philadelphia before," said
Michigan coach Johnny Orr, "but never with a
team. One of our season goals was to go to the
NCAA, but that was just the first round. It's a
great feeling, a super thing-particularly when
no one gives you a chance in the beginning."
Michigan athletic director Don Canham, the
man who runs the whole show, was a happy
observer of the post game dressing room scene.
"When you realize that the NCAA starts out
with over 700 schools playing basketball, and
now there are only four left, it's just awesome
what this team has accomplished," said Can-
ham. "That Notre Dame game was one of the
greatest in Michigan history. This team has a
lot to be proud about."
THE TIMING of all this success is particularly
sweet for Michigan's senior captain, Wayman
Britt. The Britter made perhaps the play of the
game with two minutes and 45 seconds left
when he blocked Willie Smith's jumper, quickly
grabbed the ball and whipped it downcourt to
Green for a layup that gave the Wolverines an
87-80 lead.
"This win means a hell of a lot to me," said

"IT'S ESPECIALLY nice for me," said Staton,
who played with both thighs heavily taped after
Adrian Dantley's knees had taken their toll.
"I have a lot of relatives in Philadelphia, and
when I heard the tournament was going to be
there I just had a feeling in my bones that we
were going to make it. Now the thing is to win it.
Winning was also on the mind of Steve Grote,
who got into early foul trouble checking Willie
Smith.
"I've been here for three years," said Grote,
"and we've had the same kind of lineup each
year. We have guys who've done nothing but win
since they've been playing high school and
college ball.
"ALL OF OUR starters won state champion-
ships except Phil (Hubbard) and his team went
a hell of a long way before they lost. So we
all know what it takes to win, and that helps a
lot when you're in a close game like today."
The man who didn't win, freshman center
Hubbard, was perhaps THE reason why Michi-
gan won yesterday. The 6-7 Canton, Ohio native
hit eight of ten shots, pulled down a game high
18 rebounds and scored 20 points, the best
statistical game of anyone except Smith, who
scored 43.
"You just don't give up in the tournament,"
said Hubbard. "I'm just out of high school, and
so this is a little like the state tournament for
me, but deep down you know it's different."
Michigan assistant coach Bill Frieder was
jubilant after the win.
"OUR DEFENSE just did the job when it had'
to," enthused Frieder. "And now we go to
Philadelphia. This is just great."
Dave Baxter, who came off the bench with
Grote in foul trouble and scored 18 big points,
was as calm and cool after the game as he had

Women swimmers climb to
fourteenth place in 414W

Special To The Daily
FORT LAUDERDALE-Mich-j
igan's Big Ten Champion wo-
men's swim team wrapped up
its season yesterday as it
stroked to a fourteenth-place fin-
ish in the AIAW national col-
legiate meet in this beautiful
resort city.
The Wolverines piled up 99
points in the three day meet.
The University of Miami won
its second straight title as the
female Hurricanes ravaged the
field with 445.5 points.
FOR MICHIGAN, the four-

"I wasn't sure that we could
catch Princeton," said Isaac af-
ter the meet. "We put ourselves
in a hole on Thursday because
we really swam miserably. But
we improved on Friday - we
calmed down. Then we put it
together today."
Leading the Wolverines' late
surge was Katie McCully. The
Kalamazoo freshperson culmi-
nated what wasperhaps the
best year a Michigan woman
swimmer has ever had with a
fifth place finish in the 200-yard
freestyle. Her time of 1:53.2 set

valuable points in three meter
diving with an eighth place. A
ninth place finish in the 200-
yard freestyle relay (1:39.84)
capped the Wolverines' scoring
day.
Another freestyle relay, this
one over 400 yards, brought the
best Michigan performance in
the first two days of competi-
tion. McCully, Knox, DenHer-
der and Kathy Lingenberg broke
their own Michigan record by
more than two seconds with a
3:35.65 clocking.
Michigan also scored in theI