The Michigan Daily-Sunday; January 20, 1980-Page 9 Blue boi (Continued from Page 1) uch in contention for a post-season playoff berth. "We're just thrilled to death," said ichigan coach Johnny Orr, following e game. "We just never gave up. "NOT TOO many people thought we ould pull this thing off," said Orr. "But before the game, I told the players that this game was just like last year's vic- tory over Michigan State, And with all respect to the Buckeyes, they can't be as good as they (Michigan State) were." A much more subdued Eldon Miller brushed off speculation that his highly- anked Buckeyes took Michigan too lightly. "We knew Michigan was a very good team. They've just lost some tough games on the road. They just worked harder than we did and deserved to win." A. MAJOR explanation for the Wolverine's success was their ability to put the ball in the hole and rebound with unusual consistency. The Wolverines had not been able to have a better hooting percentage than their op- ponent in their previous eight outings. Moreover, they'd been out-rebounded unces Buckeyes, 75- 74 cbs°_ Ft CHOOSE A HOBBY Boat kits - Car kits - Plane kits - PL US in four of their last five games. "We're supposed to be a good shooting team," said assistant coach Bill Frieder, "and yet our opponents have a higher percentage." But yesterday it was another story. Michigan shot an excellent 52 per cent against a Buckeye squad whose op- ponents average only 41 per cent. AND DESPITE Ohio State's two-to- three inch height advantage at each position, Michigan out-rebounded the Buckeyes 35-30. Playing one of his finest games as a Wolverine, 6-8 junior center Paul Heuerman held his own and at times outplayed Ohio State's much-heralded pivotman, Herb Williams. The 6-10 Williams came into the game averaging 20 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, rarely got a chance to exploit his All-Big Ten talents against Heuer- man. Williams was held to only 17 poin- ts and five rebounds. HEUERMAN ON the other hand, pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds and contributed nine points. He's now led the Wolverines in rebounding in the last five games. "Heuerman has really come on," sai Frieder. "He's proving to be one of the Big Ten's top players." Other players of note in yesterday's win were sophomore forward Thad Garner and junior guard Johnny John- son. Garner hit on 8-13 shots for 19 poin- ts. Johnson, substituting for Keith Smith after the first nine minutes of play, played perhaps his finest game of the year, sinking 7-12 shots from the field for 17 points and pulling down six boards. THE BALL started bouncing Michigan's way from the opening tipoff. Trailing 4-2 in the second minute of play, the Wolverines scored six unanswered points, propelling them in- to a lead they kept for the next ten minutes. With the Wolverines scrapping for everything they could get and the Buckeyes missing numerous layups and short jumpers, Michigan held onto the lead until freshman sensation Clark Kellogg pumped in a 12-footer with 7:20 left in the first half to give Ohio State a 24-23 lead. Michigan quickly regained the lead on a pair of Johnson free throws and held onto that advantage until a little over two minutes were left in the first half. LEADING 36-34, Orr took precautious measures in replacing Heuerman who had two fouls on him, with freshman Ike Person with 2:19 left in the first half. But instead of the Buckeyes taking advantage of Heuerman's absence, Michigan pumped in six, straight points including a controversial Garner tip-in at the buzzer to take a commanding 42- 34 lead to the dressing room. Michigan saw their eight-point lead dwindle in the opening moments of the second half as the Buckeye's went on a 6-1 scoring barrage to close the deficit to 43-40. THE WOLVERINES opened their lead to four points, 58-54, with 7:26 left in regulation time, on a beautiful behind-the-back pass from Garner un- der the boards to McGee for a layup. McGee's 23 points equalled his season average and moves him into sixth place on Michigan's all-time scoring list with 1,387 points. OSUpset Games: * Dungeons and Dragons * Avalon Hill " Great Selection of Stuffed Animals, tool "YOUR FRIENDLY STUDENT STORE" CAMPUS BIKE & TOY sus41. - wifliam ', wr" BUDGET MAIL & MESSAGE , COMBO Smith ......... Kellogg ....... Williams ...... Ransey ........ Scott.,...... . Ellinghausen Huggins ....... Miller ......... Totals ......... McGee ....... Garner ........ Heuerman..... Smith ....... Bodnar... Johnson ...... Person ........ Lozier ......... James....... Totals ....... OHIO STATE Mn. FG/A FT/A 44 3/6 2/2 39 6/10 2/2 36 7/15 3/4 45 7/16 2/4 44 6/13 0/0 9 2/2 0/0 1 0/0 0/0 7 1/2 1/2 225 32/64 10/14 MICHIGAN 42 11/20 1/3 45 8/13 3/4 43 ' 4/11 1/2 10 0/1 0/0 31 2/6 0/1 36 7/12 3/5 2 0/0 0/0 14 1/1 1/4 2 0/0 0/0 225 33/64 9/19 R 8 5 S 3 4 _2 0 3 30 4 7 12 0 .0 6 0 1 0 35 A 0 0 0 8 2 0 0 0 10 2 3 1 0 3 2 0 2 0 13 PF 5 4 4 3 1 0 0 18 3 3 4 0 3 2 0 2 0 17 Pts. 8 14 10 16 12 4 0 3 74 23 19 9 0 4 17 0 3 0 75 Need an Ann Arbor Address/For Business or Personal Reasons? USE OURS... P.O. Lockbox plus Message Service & More Privately Owned - No Waiting For as little as $17 per month Call or come by for free list of services 668-0288 * 111 N. First St., Ann Arbor, 48104 M r \ full court 1l , PRE S. i Cagers'intensity... a .. trademark of success By ALAN FANGER As I hurriedly escaped the mob of people who converged on the Crisler Arena tunnel following Michigan's impressive 75-74 a in over second-rated Ohio State, I heard several fans react in disbelief, to the seat-squirming con- test. "It's a miracle," gasped on Wolverine supporter. "Impossible," said the mannext to him. All at once, this seemed puzzling. A "miracle" is an event that defies ex- planation. A more liberal interpretation would classify it as an event that goes unpredicted by all witnesses. But there was nothing miraculous about the Wolverines' play yesterday. The just followed Johnny Orr's instructions, which were fairly straightfor- ward. "w e'wanted to.. sag off (Carter) Scott, try and play (Kelvin) Ransey tight, and Williams with a lot of help," Orr continued. Williams made only 7 of 15 shots; he was shooting over 60 per cent in conference games. Ransey made good on only 7 of 16 attempts. These results have been achieved in other games. Orr wanted Paul Heuerman and Thad Garner to shadow Minnesota's sharpshooting forward, Kevin McHale. McHale ended going to the hoop only 11 times. Pressure was applied to Purdue's Joe Barry Carroll, and for the first 30 minutes of that game, the 7-2 pivotman was confined by the Michigan detense. The best method of assessing the cagers' performance 15 games through the season is looking at their on-court potential. In some games, such as Illinois, that potential has gone untapped; the inside containment, shot selection, and intensity of pursuit all mysteriously disappeared. But yester- day, Orr had his troops utilizing those skills to the maximum. That "readiness" was displayed several times during the second half. Garner and Johnny Johnson were taking higher-percentage shots. Passes were thrown cautiously and with more authority. And Mark Lozier remem- bered how to shoot a free throw, just at the critical moment. "It was a good team effort. We played well," said Mike McGee, who had one of his "standard" 23-point games. "We just calmed down more and set- tled down the play, that's all." No, this was certainly not a miracle. Even the patented Michigan comebck, which was launched against Toledo, Marquette, Indiana, and Purdue, was not needed yesterday. At one point, the Wolverines opened up a seven-point lead against the second-ranked team in the nation, but one which many coaches felt should be ranked number one. "They (Michigan) neutralized our size by playng very hard," said Buckeye coach Eldon Miller: "Size is misleading. Position is what counts." What Michigan got yesterday, and what it will continue to depend on in the coming weeks, is a team effort. Heuerman summarized it best when he said, "We're just getting older.. . we're maturing. We know we can't go out one-on-one. We'll get our butts kicked." Nobody has kicked Michigan's butt thus far. And if the Wolverines can maintain their intensity and perform as their mentor decrees, they aren't liable to be blown out of any arena. Even St. John's Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Yippee! Wolverine cagers celebrate win Take notes with class... By SCOTT M. LEWIS Johnny Orr, the 52-year-old, usually sedate dean of Big Ten coaches, leaped off the bench, ran to midcourt, and led the courtside Crisler Arena crowd in a whooping cheer. And why shouldn't Orr have been celebrating? His Wolverines yesterday pulled off perhaps the biggest college basketball upset of the season to date, a 75-74 thrilling overtime win over Big Ten leader and number-two ranked Ohio State. The victory, played before a full- house gathering of 13,609, snapped a three-game losing streak and hiked Michigan's conference record to 3-3, two games behind the Buckeyes' 5-1. "Well, that was a good one, a great win for us," understated an exhausted Orr moments after the game. "Our kids are gutty kids, aren't they? One good thing we've done so far is come back time and time again. It was a great team win. We can't win it any other way." Orr singled out the performances of Thad Garner, Mark Lozier, Johnny Johnson and Mike McGee. Garner played his finest game of the season, scoring 19 points, including eight of 13 field goals. His most impor- tant basket came with 1:21 left and Michigan leading, 74-72. Garner drib- bled the ball for almost 20 seconds, cir- cling the forecourt, before finding a crack in the OSU zone and driving for an uncontested layup. "They (the Buckeyes) were trying to spread it out," explained the sophomore forward. "They wanted one of the big men to handle the ball. I saw the opening and took it." Garner said the Wolverines didn't feel any tension entering yesterday's contest. "There was no pressure on us," he said. "All we had to do was have some fun. We're still battling in there (the Big Ten race). Folks will be looking out for us now." Lozier, the senior guard who directed the offense in the final minutes, missed three of four free throws in the over- time session, one of the attempts barely grazing the bottom of the net before bouncing out of bounds. But with 11 seconds remaining and the Wolverines leading by two, he sank one of two from the line, icing the vic- tory. Lozier recalled, "I riccocheted the first one off the back of the rim. On the second I tried to compensate and air- balled it. It's the first time I ever missed a free throw by that much. The third one went in (barely) and the four- th was too long," said Lozier, who con- siders himself a 75 per cent foul shooter. Johnson had his second straight productive outing off the bench, hitting seven of 12 shots, most from long range, en route to 17 points. The sharpshooting guard-forward is slated for an increase in court time, said Orr. McGee, whose offense is so important to the Michigan attack, seems to have escaped from the throes of a recent scoring slump, earning game scoring honors with 23 points. In addition, his defensive work was splendid, holding prize OSU freshman Clark Kellogg to 14 points and battling for nearly every loose ball. Perhaps the happiest face outside the Wolverine locker room yesterday belonged to freshman Joe James. When asked why the win was extra special for him, James replied, "Hey, I'm from Ohio (Youngstown). If we would have lost this game, I would have heard about it when I went back home." ... with a MONTBLANC. Long known as Europe's leading pen, the MONTBLANC has superb craftsmanship, remarkably smooth writing action and perfect balance. So, don't just take notes - come in, pick out a MONTBLANC and then 'ate MORE THAN A BOOKSTORE 549 E University at the corner of East U. and South U. 662-3201 'X' c $ 1 , Ilk' " 4f }4 I a4- IF 4 I 4. II *4 C.w CCC I Mft PrF ISRAEL NOW TWO EVENINGS OF ISRAELI CULTURE AND LIFE at the Pendleton Room, Michigan Union BEIT CA] Tues., Jan Featuring... RUT HI NEVON -Top Israeli Singer and Recording Star. FE (coffee house) INSIDE ISRAEL . 22, 8:00 p.m. Wed., Jan. 23, 8:00 p.m. PROGRAMS FAIR: " Speaker " Israeli Dancing * Information On University Programs * Kibbutz " Job Opportunities * Travel " Book Fair -MA'ARIV i I