Who did the Michigan hockey team
beat to win its last NCAA title?
(Answer, page 2)
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Wolverines hook Longhorns, 84-79
.Michigan comes of
age with NCAA win
WICHITA, Kan. - The time has come to applaud the Michigan
basketball team.
It's all right, you can be proud of the Wolverines. After so many
games, so many trials by fan, Michigan has come into its own.
0 Consider, even with all of its experience and exposure, the Fab Four is,
nevertheless, just a group of college juniors. The Wolverines are still on the
cusp of adolescence.
Of the five starters, only two - Howard and Rose - are older than 20
years of age. But that's only on a birth certificate.
"***
When Pepperdine went ahead of the Wolverines in
the late stages of the game Thursday, Michigan did not
bare its youth.
Everyone had doubts about the team - even
Michigan coach Steve Fisher. The coach said that with
less than a minute to go against the Waves, he thought
the Wolverines were heading home earlier than
expected.
BREBut when the fans hissed, and 5-foot-9 Pepperdine
FORREST guard Damin Lopez drained seven three-pointers,
Forrest Michigan called on its maturity.
Fires "When you're Michigan, you have a bullseye on
your chest," Rose said. "No matter who we're playing,
we're going to get their best shot. We're used to it, it's
been happening for three years. But we seem to get the job done."
This time around the NCAA tournament, though, the task is a more
difficult one. Papa Webber is not there to pick up after a Ray Jackson dirty
pass. There is no experienced bench to wash away the fatigue created by a
fruitless fast break.
The five starters have to play it closer to the vest. But they are able to
do that now.
They have come of age.
.* *
The Wolverines knew coming into the game with Texas that the
Longhorns doted on running and pressing.
The Michigan coaches and players understood the method to victory in
*he game lay in avoiding a track meet with the opposition and being
disciplined enough to break the Texas press.
Unlike so many times before, though, Michigan actually executed
See FORREST, Page 4
Howard's 34 leads
'M' to Sweet 16 again
By RACHEL BACHMAN
DAILY BASKETBALL WRITER
WICHITA, Kan. - In sharp con-
trast to the fist-pumping play of the
past two postseasons, third-seeded
Michigan's 84-79 decision over No.
6 Texas Saturday was all business.
And Juwan Howard was the chair-
man of the board.
Howard outplayed Texas barn-
stormer B.J. Tyler, posting career-
highs in points (34) and rebounds
(18) in the NCAA second round game
at the Kansas Coliseum.
"I had a good night, but I didn't
have a great night," an even-keeled
Howard said after the game.
His coach was more complimen-
tary.
"Juwan was simply outstanding,"
Steve Fisher said. "We've put the ball
in his hands a lot of times, so he's now
got the ability to make some deci-
sions to shoot it or pass it. He was
magnificent."
Saturday marked the third time in
Michigan's last five games that
Howard set a career high in scoring.
While Tyler's 22-point perfor-
mance was only 1.3 less than his av-
erage, the senior shooting guard was
just 1-for-11 from three-point range.
"If I'd have hit my shots, we'd
have won the game," Tyler said.
Instead, it was Michigan that came
through in the end. With 7:36 left in
the game, Howard's short jumper put
the Wolverines up for the duration,
65-64, and sparked a 9-2 Michigan
run. An open jam by Jimmy King
with 1:44 to go made it 74-68 in favor
of the Wolverines.
Down the stretch, King was fouled
repeatedly. Beginning at the 1:27
mark, when Michigan was up 74-70,
the junior guard attempted eight shots
from the line. He missed the front
ends of his first two trips, then sank
four straight to sustain a five-point
lead and make it 80-75.
A dunk by former Michigan player
Rich McIver with 19 seconds remain-
ing pulled the Longhorns within three.
Two seconds later, Jalen Rose was
fouled and nailed both shots to make
it 82-77.
After a Tyler layup again cut the
lead to three, Rose once more was
fouled and swished both shots to fi-
nalize the score, 84-79.
In explanation of why he and King
were able to ice their free throws in
the clutch, Rose said, "We know if we
don't make it, we're digging a grave
for ourselves."
The Longhorns' patented run-and-
gun offense combined with a fullcourt
press pushed them out to a 15-9 lead
- their biggest advantage of the game
- with 15:39 left in the first half.
They hit from the arc early, nailing
three treys in the first five minutes.
"I thought the tempo of the game
was in our favor," Texas coach Tom
Penders said. "(Michigan) never had
control of the tempo."
Yet, Michigan managed to force
See BASKETBALL, Page 4
EVAN PETRIE/Daily
Jimmy King slams home two of his 12 points in Michigan's win over Texas
Saturday. The Wolverines will next play Maryland in the regional semifinals.
'4 Blue ices Lakers for title
* Michigan wins first post-season CCHA tourney, 3-0
By MICHAEL ROSENBERG
DAILY HOCKEY WRITER
DETROIT - Motivation was not
a problem for Michigan and Lake
Superior State yesterday at Joe Louis
Arena.
Coming into the game, both teams
had revenge on their minds. The
Wolverines were looking to pay back
the Lakers for defeating them in the
last three conference tournaments.
Lake Superior wanted to beat Michi-
gan to avoid being swept by the Wol-
verines, who had won all three games
between the teams this season.
If the Lakers are to get revenge,
they will have to beat Michigan in the
NCAA tournament.
That's because the Wolverines
stopped Lake Superior, 3-0, to cap-
ture their first-ever conference title
and earn a No. 1 seed in the West
region of the NCAA tournament.
Michigan won the championship
by beating a team which had won 12
straight games and a goalie, Blaine
Lacher, who had been hotter than red
pepper.
Lacher came into the contest with
a five-game shutout streak and work-
ing on an NCAA-record streak of
consecutive scoreless minutes.
That streak ended 16 minutes and
18 seconds into the game, when
Michigan's Brian Wiseman knocked
the puck off Lacher's leg and into the
net.
"I took a couple of whacks at it,
trying to get it through the five-hole,"
Wiseman said. "His pad came off the
goalpost and (the puck) went off his
back pad into the net."
Lacher said his streak was a once-
in-a-lifetime occurrence.
"This is something that will never
happen again," he said. As for the
team's 12 straight wins, "the streak
we had going was truly great, but you
have to expect a loss some time."
Wiseman's goal gave the Wolver-
ines confidence that Lacher was vul-
nerable after all.
"Obviously, it was a real lift,"
coach Red Berenson said. "That gave
us something to build on."
Ryan Sittler scored an insurance
goal in the second period, but it turned
out to be unnecessary, because Michi-
gan All-American goalie Steve
Shields, who had been somewhat for-
gotten - as well as inconsistent -
during Lacher's late-season run, was
impenetrable.
"There was more than just the
game on the line (for Shields),"
Berenson said. "There was some rec-
ognition as well. I thought he looked
a lot sharper than he had been. We
have had some great senior leader-
ship."
No senior was more of a leader
than Mike Stone, who picked up the
tournament's most valuable player
trophy after dominating defensively
and scoring Michigan's third goal of
the title game, his second of the cham-
pionship. Stone also scored a short-
handed goal in the Wolverines' 6-4
semifinal win over Western Michi-
gan Saturday.
"I think I accept that award in
behalf of a lot of guys on our team that
don't get the credit they deserve,"
Stone said.
See CCHA, Page 5
Michigan celebrates its first post-season CCHA title following a 3-0 win over Lake Superior yesterday at Joe Louis
Arena. Defenseman Mark Sakala hoists the trophy honoring the Wolverines' accomplishment.
*Wrestlers peak with
fifth-place NCAA effort
BARRY SOLLENBERGER
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - While
the NCAA basketball tournament is
known for having its share of sur-
arising teams each year, the NCAA
wrestling championships had one this
past weekend that is hard to top.
After a disappointing regular sea-
son in which it posted a 6-9 dual-
meet record, the Michigan wrestling
team finished fifth in the NCAA
Chamninnshins held this nast week-
pound weight class to finish second.
With the victory, Smith became the first
wrestler in NCAA history to win four
individual national titles.
"Sean was crushed because he re-
ally believed that he could beat Smith
and he (Bormet) wrestled a great
match," Bahr said. "It's the best match
that Smith's probably had in the last
couple of years."
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