d Edmonson notches 34 points as Purdue routs 'M' cagers, 88-69 0 By LARRY FREED Purdue's Russell Cross controlled the tip to guard Kevin Stallings, who passed it to Keith Edmonson for an easy 18-foot jumper. The game was never in doubt after- wards. THE BOILERMAKERS, who entered Crisler Arena yesterday riding a six- game losing streak, easily manhandled the Wolverines, 88-69, to extend Michigan's woes along with its seven- game skein. "We've been on the road for 36 days, and we've been stung quite often," Purdue coach Gene Keady explained. "If you've got any pride, you're gonna come back." "We were hungry." LUCKILY FOR Purdue the main course was the hapless Wolverines out- fit making a number of Boilermakers salivate. Keith Edmonson gorged himself in the first half with 22 points, two less than the entire Michigan team. Ed- monson, who was held to just two points against the Iowa Hawkeyes on Thur- sday, tallied a game-high 34. "We concentrated on Cross a great deal, and Edmonson got away from us," Wolverine coach Bill Frieder commented. "That will happen a lot this year.". ALTHOUGH the 6-10 Cross was shut down in the opening stanza, he managed to free himself for 10 points and five rebounds. Forwards Greg Eifer and Mike Scearce also ended in double figures with 10 points. In all, 11 Boilermakes entered the scoring parade, one player more than the entire Michigan squad. "The win was important for us in the Big Ten," rejoiced Keady, "We wanted to split on the road, which you have to 1-7, 1-8 do to finish in the upper division." While Keady and his troops were relieved with a split in the opening week of the conference schedule, Frieder and the Wolverines face the unenviable task of traveling to Indiana and Minnesota after failing to register a victory at home. HOWEVER, the game was not without its bright spots for Frieder. Freshman sharpshooter Leslie Rockymore came off the bench in the second half to hit his first seven shots, leading him to a career-high 21-point performance. But Rockymore's heroics could bring the Wolverines no closer than 13 points in the second half, as Purdue upped its record to 1-1 in the conference and 4-8 overall. Meanwhile, the Wolverines fell to 0-2 in the conference and 1-9 overall, while extending their losing skid to 10 games against Division I schools. "ROCKYMORE had a great second half," Frieder said. "But we need him shooting like that in the first half when the game's in contention.., we let it slip away from us at the end of the half with those turnovers." Along with their high propensity to commit turnovers this season, the Wolverines' other achilles heel has been their rebounding. Yesterday's performance was no exception, as the Boilers easily outrebounded the Wolverines, 37-24. Scearce led the ef- fort with 10 boards. Ike Person, the other Wolverine bright spot, grabbed eight rebounds while scoring a career-high 14 points. Other Wolverines in double digits were Turner with (14) and Garner (13). TURNER, WHO has been plagued by in- consistent performances all winter, hit on seven of 12 from the field while - 1-9. . dishing out a personal high of eight assists. Despite these individual highlights, the Michigan defense, last in the Big Ten in field-goals against average proved no match for the potent Purdue attack, which shot 60.3 percent from the field. The 88-point Boilermaker outbur- st and Edmonson's individual 34-point performance were highs for the year against the young Wolverine defense. "Michigan's awfully young and they don't have a center," Keady said. "They collapsed around Russell, and we had to shoot outside, which we did successfully." The defensive performance might cause Frieder to change his tactics early in the conferenc e season. "We might have to go to a more con- servative offense-we'll be changing things a great deal," Frieder said. If the Wolverines don't, they may end up satisfying the hunger of another team yearning to get on track-Bobby Knight and his Indiana Hoosiers, who Michigan tips off against Thursday night. 0 4 4 Daily Photo by KIM HILL MICHIGAN GUARD Leslie Rockymore (24) puts up a shot, only to watch helplessly as Purdue center Russell Cross (40) rejects it. full court C.PRESS Losing continues . . rumor flies By BOB WOJNOWSKI IT STARTED with 9:51 left in the game and Michigan trailing by 20. Two elderly men in Section 32 stood up, muttered some unintelligible remarks and turned to leave. It was 5:15 p.m., meaning they had watched one hour and 15 minutes of basketball; yet even that had been too much. Soon thereaf- ter the exodus was in full swing. The ramifications of what will probably be Michigan's worst basketball season in history are just now beginning to be felt. And they are far more en- compassing than most Wolverine partisans realize. Midway through his customary post-game press conference, Bill Frieder shocked the gathered scribes by cutting short his monologue and turning the tables on the press. ?'Let me ask you a question," began Frieder. "I understand that Tim Stoudt (a WJIM-TV Lansing sportscaster) said on his television show that Eric Turner said that he wished he wouldn't have come to Michigan and that he should have gone somewhere else. If Eric did not say that, and he didn't, can we sue him?" While a lawsuit is impractical simply because it would be nearly im- possible to prove that Stoudt acted with malice and was purposely attem- pting to discredit the Michigan program, the message was nevertheless clear to Frieder. "I'll tell you, and you can quote me on this, I think (Michigan State) star- ted that rumor because of Robert Henderson." Henderson is a 6-8 center from Lansing Eastern who is being heavily recruited by both Michigan and Michigan State. "I'm sure this is the kind of stuff we're going to be seeing this year and it disappoints me-it really does," he said. "But I'm ready for it. So are my players, and I think our recruits are, too. "And again, this is hearsay from a Lansing lady I just talked to." Hearsay or not, the implications are obvious. With Michigan basketball in the state it currently is, the 'wolves who have long sought the ultimate destruction of the program have gotten hungrier. At stake is team morale, fan support, school pride and, most importantly, some much-needed recruits. And one of those recruits, 6-8 Paul Jokisch of Birmingham Brother Rice, who has already announced his intention to at- tend Michigan, is unconvinced by the reports of Turner's alleged comments. "He reallysaid that?" asked a surprised Jokisch, who was in attendance at the game. When informed that it was merely a rumor, he sounded relieved. "I didn't think he said that. Eric likes it here at Michigan and he likes all the guys on the team, and I think he's gonna stay." When asked if he was having second thoughts about coming to Michigan in light of the current state of affairs, Jokisch was quick to reply. "No. I'm going to Michigan." Turner talks Which brings us to the culprit in this seemy situation, the alleged evil- sayer himself, Mr. Turner. "There's no truth to that at all, and I feel real bad because there's no way I would ever say anything like that," Turner said. "I have no regrets what- soever coming here because I know that people might not be able to see it now, but I can see it and I know we're going to turn this thing around. "And there's no way I'm gonna give up because we've been through an awful lot together, and it's just beginning to form as a family. And I can see it. "And I'm gonna try to get together and tell the fellas because if they hear something like that, what would they think? I'll probably get coach Frieder together so he can talk to everybody and say, hey, there's no truth to that at all. "I don't even know where that came from, and .I feel really bad that somebody would even say that." But one possible reason for the rumor is not lost on the little freshman from Flint Central. "When you get down, I guess everybody's trying to throw darts at you, or whatever. One way or another they want to find something there, but we can hang together real good. "I guess coach Frieder's gonna find out what's going on because it's all brand new to me. When I walked out of the shower it was presented to me for the first time." But it won't be the last time. Such stories are what often make, and can ultimately break, a 1-9 team. PURDUE Min] Palombizio .......13 Scearce ..........27N Cross.............. 30 Stallings .......... 30 Edmonson ......... 32 Elfert...........21 Hall .............. 16 Kitchel............7T Benson.............5 Bullock............ 10 Clawson..........3 Lawson ........... 3 Peterson .......... 3 Team Rebounds FG/A FT/A R 1/2 0/0 2 5/9 0/0 10 4/7 2/4 5 0/4 0/0 3 13/21 8/9 6 5/6 0/3 0 1/1 0/0 2 3/3 0/0 1 1/1 0/0 2 2/3 2/2 2 2/4 0/0 0 0/0 0/0 0 1/2 0/0 2 2 A 1 1 2 8 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 PF Pts 22 1 10 2 10 2 0 3 34 0 10 1 2 1 6 0 2 0 6 0 4 0 0 0 2 MICHIGAN Min Garner.......... Hopson ............ Person.......... Pelekoudas........ Turner......... Carter........... Rockymore ........ Rudy .............. Hall............. Brown.......... Team Rebounds Totals........... 37 25 36 29 34 10 22 2 3 2 FG/A FT/A R 6/18 1/1 9 0/3 0/0 1 7/12 0/0 8 1/2 3/4 0 7/12 0/0 1 1/3 0/0 0 9/12 3/4 4 0/1 0/0 0 0/0 0/0 0 0/0 0/0 0 31/63 7/9 24 A 1 0 3 5 8 0 0 0 0 0 PF Pts 2 13 0 0 3 14 4 5 4 14 0 2 1 21 0 0 0 0 0 0 Daily Photo by KIM HILL MICHIGAN CAPTAIN Thad Garner (45) lays the ball up toward the basket in yesterday's loss to Purdue. Garner scored 13 points and snagged a team- high nine rebounds. 17 14 64 Totals.............. 38/63 12/18 37 19 12 88 Hawke yes defeat Ilini IOWA CITY (AP) - Iowa's Mark Gannon scored 15 points, including a short one-handed jump shot that stopped a second-half Illinois surge, to give the seventh-ranked Hawkeyes a 56-50 vic- tory in regipnally-televised Big Ten college basketball yesterday. Iowa, 10-1 overall and 2-0 in the league, took advantage of the Illini's foul trouble and forged an 18-10 lead with nine minutes, 17 seconds left in the first half. The score was 28-20 at inter- mission. THE HAWKEYES stretched their lead to 13 points before they went cold with about 13 minutes to play. Illinois'James Griffin scored on a three-point play, Craig Tucker added a basket and Derek Harper had two to bring Illinois to within four points at 44-40 with 7:59 remaining. That's when Gannon stepped in to break up the Illinois run. Iowa used four clutch free throws by Steve Carfino to seal the victory. Minnesota 64, Michigan State 58 EAST LANSING (AP) - Trent Tucker, a Minnesota senior who grew up 50 miles from East Lansing in Fint, returned to his hme state and scored 17 points while three teammates were in double figures as the Gophers captured a 64-58 Big Ten basketball victory over Michigan State last night., The sixth-ranked Gophers took an 11-point lead early in the game and never trailed enroute to their first con- ference victory against one defeat. Minnesota is 9-2 for the season. Michigan State alos is 1-1 in the Big Ten and 6-6 overall. MINNESOTA vaulted to a 21-10 lead with 7:13 to go in the first half and set- tled for a 27-19 lead at intermission. the Gophers increased their lead to 40-23 with 13 minutes remaining in the game when Michigan State rallied.$ Ohio State 66, Wisconsin 59 COLUMBUS (AP) - Ohio State, led by Larry Huggins' 15 points, rolled to its eighth consecutive college basketball victory last night with a 66-59 Big Ten decision over Wisconsin. The Buckeyes remained tied for the league lead with a 2-0 record and pushed their overall mark to 11-3. Wisconsin fell to 1-1 in the conference and 4-6 for all games. OHIO STATE won despite not scoring a basket in the last 13 minutes. However, the Buckeyes held off the Badgers by hitting 15 free throws in that span. Clark Kellogg contributed 12 points while Tony Campbell had 10 fdr Ohio State, which led at halftime, 35-34. John Bailey scored 13 to lead Wiscon- sin before fouling out with 12 seconds to play. Freshman Cory Blackwell wAs the only other dcouble-figure scorer for the young Badgers, with 12. Northwester 75, Indiana 61 EVANSTON (AP) - Jim Stack and Bob Grady scored 15 points each as Northwestern shook off 12 years of frustration and a string of 20 straight losses to Indiana by whipping the defending Big Ten and NCAA cham- pions 75-61 last night. The loss was the fourth straight for Indiana and second straight in con- ference play and dropped the Hoosiers to 6-5 for the season. Northwestern boosted its Big Ten mark to 1-1 and is now 5-6 for the season. North Carolina sihps past Virginia, 65-60 CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP)- James Worthy hit a turn-around jumper that gave North Carolina its first lead in the second half, with less than four minutes to play4 and the top-ranked Tar Heels clawed their way to a 65-60 basketball victory yesterday over No. 2 Virginia. Worthy's short jump shot from the left baseline put the Tar Heels ahead, 55-54, with 3:47 to play and capped a comeback that saw undefeated North Carolina erase a nine-point deficit. The teams traded advantages in the closing minutes un- til two foul shots by Sam Perkins with 1:48 to play gave North Carolina the lead for good, 59-58, and the Tar Heels held on for their 11th victory this season by going in- to their famed four-corners offense. Bradley 55, Wichita State 47 PEORIA, Ill. (AP)- Mitchell Anderson poured in a game-high 17 points and Donald Reese spearheaded a tough defense yesterday as Bradley upset ninth- ranked Wichita State, 55-47, in Missouri Valley Conference basketball. With Reese as the anchor of a zone defense, Bradley held Wichita State scoreless in the first four minutes and limited the Shockers to just seven field goals in 31 fir- st-half attempts, taking a 26-16 lead at the intermission. THE BRAVES reeled off six straight points to open the second half and took a commanding 32-16 lead with 18:23 to play. Bradley then bagged several clutch free throws down the stretch to safeguard its margin of victory. Anderson added 14 rebounds to his game-high point total, while Reese chipped in 14 points for Bradley, 2-0 in MVC play and 8-6 overall. Freshman Aubrey Sherrard chalked up 12 points to lead Wichita State, which shot only 25 percent from the field for the contest. The Shockers fell to 1-1 in con- farnnana v a il 11- Sn SCORES College Basketball Purdue 88, MICHIGAN 69 Iowa 56, Illinois 50 Minnesota 64, Michigan State 58 St. John's, N.Y. 76, Providence 62 Massachusetts 57, Duquesne 55 Washington 47, Arizona State 46 Kent State 57, Ball State 55 Hofstra 75, Bucknell 62 RiA Tian Sfnnrlinne .. .. Y .: .: + mx,,.;::;