SPORTSMonday Trivia *When was the last time Michigan failed to clinch a birth in the Rose Bowl or a place in the basketball or hockey semifinals? (Answer, page 2) hi§ ,iIj ' Inside SPORTSMonday NCAA Hockey Bracket 2 Men's Tennis 2 The R.H. Factor 3 Men's Basketball 4, 7 Hockey 5 Swimming 6 Gymnastics 8 SPORTSMonday feature 9 NCAA Basketball Bracket 10 Final Four three -pests thwarted 'Lake Superior hands Top-seeded Arkansas sends cagers packing 'M overtime loss By ANTOINE PITTS DAILY HOCKEY WRITER EAST LANSING -- After four defeats to the Wolverines this season - including last Sunday's CCHA championship game - Lake Supe- rior State was looking for revenge. The Lakers (29-10-4) got that re- venge as they ended the season for Michigan (33-7-1) with a 5-4 over- time victory in the NCAA Regionals at Munn Ice Arena. Rob Valicevic scored 2:31 into overtime to send Lake Superior to its third straight Fi- nal Four. "It was another great, classic Michigan-Lake Superior battle," Lake Superior coach Jeff Jackson said. "The last time I remember such a game was a couple years ago in the CCHA Championships at Joe Louis Arena." * Valicevic took a pass from Brad Willner between the circles and one- timed it past goaltender Steve Shields for the winning goal. "I didn't see him open," Willner said. "He yelled pretty loud so I threw it over there. I was going to shoot then I heard him yell." "I saw the puck go around," Valicevic said. "I was in the slot by chance. The puck came to me and I don't even remember hitting hit. I looked up and it was in the net." Yesterday's win marked the sec- ond straight day that the Lakers had to play an extra session to win. Against Northeastern, Lake Superior came from behind in a 6-5 overtime win. "I knew Lake Superior would play better than they did (Saturday)," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "There were two good teams - it's a shame both of us can't make it all the way." The Lakers used a complete team effort to knock of the team that had defeated them four times previously this season. "All 20 of our guys played the way they were capable of today," Jackson said. "We changed our game plan this. week and it almost cost us against Northeastern. Getting to the Final Four is a great accomplishment for any team. Michigan stood poised to take a 4- 3 lead into the second intermission, but the Lakers had other ideas. Kurt Miller knocked a rebound past Shields with three seconds on the clock to tie the game at four. "The last-minute goal in the sec- ond period was a tough goal," Berenson said. "You don't like to give up last-minute goals because they're usually backbreakers and it turned out to be an important goal." Shields blocked the initial shot but could not corral the rebound. "The puck squirted free and their guy got to it first," Shields said. Miller's goal ended a string of three unanswered goals by the Wol- verines. Mike Stone scored 3:34 into the second period to make it 3-2 in favor of Lake Superior. Minutes later, Jason Botterill redirected Brendan Morrison's shot past goaltender Blaine Lacher for a power-play goal to tie the score. David Oliver gave Michigan a 4- 3 lead on a power-play goal with 5:04 left in the period. "There's no question the momen- tum had changed," Jackson said. "Michigan came out with three straight goals and was taking it to us. See HOCKEY, Page 5 By CHAD A. SAFRAN DAILY BASKETBALL WRITER DALLAS - Unlike most every- one else in America, the Michigan basketball team hasn't needed a ticket to the Final Four the past two seasons. This year, however, the Wolverines will need to shell out some big-time money if they want to enjoy the courtside seats they've gotten so com- fortable with. Arkansas (29-3) will be sitting in those sideline chairs in Charlotte, N.C., next weekend as a result of its 76-68 victory over the Wolverines (24-8) yesterday in front of 16,297 - including the President and his fam- ily - at Reunion Arena. Led by Scotty Thurman's 20-point performance, including 4 of 8 from three-point range, the Razorbacks cap- tured their first Final Four trip since 1990. "Scotty's the type of player that can put a team on his shoulders and carry them all the way," Razorback coach Nolan Richardsoh said. "He's not afraid to take the big shot." His biggest shot of the game may have been his three-pointer from NBA range with 7:47 to go in the game. The basket put the Razorbacks up six, 61- 55, short-cutting an 11-3 Michigan run that had brought the Wolverines to within three, the result of Dugan Fife's slicing, lefty layin. While Fife's field goal may have brought Michigan closer to Arkan- sas, Juwan Howard was the one who gave the Wolverines any hope at all. Despite picking up two personal fouls in the game's first two minutes, the junior center did not get his third until just 9.7 seconds remained in the game. During that time, Howard managed to pump in 30 points, while grabbing 13 rebounds. "Juwan Howard is awesome," Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson said. "Every time he touches the ball, something good happens. We tried to defend him with man-to-man, double- teams and triple-teams. He was still able to have a good day." Yet, his day still wasn't good enough for the Wolverines, who were in danger of getting blown out early. Michigan outscored the Razorbacks 6-1 to open the game, but then Arkan- sas unleashed one of its feared offen- sive explosions.I Down 8-3 at the 15:44 mark, the Arkansas' Corliss Williamson defends against Wolverine Juwan Howard. Razorbacks began a 20-1 run that would vault them into the lead for good. Over the six minute span, Ar- kansas hit four three-pointers, includ- ing back-to-back treys from Alex Dillard that pushed the lead to 14, 23- 9. Dillard was not the only one drop- ping bombs like a B-52. The Razor- backs connected on 7 of 12 in the first stanza, helping them to a 40-31 half- time lead. And just when Arkansas appeared to be ready to, book its hotel in Char- JONATHAN LURIE/Daily Dejected Wolverines Mark Sakala (2) and Warren Luhning react to the jubilant Laker congregation at game's end. Women gymnasts clinch Big *Ten title By TOM BAUSANO DAILY SPORTS WRITER* UNIVERSITY PARK - The Penn State Concert Band got plenty of practice with "The Victors" at the women's gymnastics Big Ten Cham- pionships held Saturday night. The Michigan fight song filled Recreation Hall a total of seven times during the awards presentation. The Wolverines swept every individual title as well as the overall team title. In addition, coach Bev Plocki was named Big Ten Coach of the Year, Beth Wymer was the Big Ten Gymnast of the Year and Andrea McDonald took Two players, two stories Hockey players Aaron Ward and Cam Stewart have traveled different roads since leaving Michigan lotte, Michigan began its own come- back. The Wolverines shut down the inside, especially Southeastern Con- ference Player-of-the-Year, Corliss Williamson. The sophomore forward was held scoreless for almost 30 min- utes after scoring his fifth and sixth points at the 12:27 mark of the open- ing half. "We knew that by looking at the films that Williamson was a strong See BASKETBALL, Page 4 Borges leads Blue to third at NCAAs By BRETT JOHNSON DAILY SPORTS WRITER MINNEAPOLIS - As expected, the Michigan men's swimming and diving team finished third at this weekend's NCAA Championships. However, the Wolverines set eight school records in the process. Meanwhile, Stanford cruised to its third straight national title. The Cardinal led all teams with 566.5 points followed by Texas (445.0) and Michigan (370.9). Auburn (301.5) and California (242.5) rounded out the top five. "After the first day, I wasn't so By MICHAEL ROSENBERG DAILY HOCKEY WRITER ny map of the United States will tell you Glens Falls, N.Y., is only a short way from Boston. If you don't make any stops and take liberties with the speed limit, the journey is just over two hours. If you are Aaron Ward, it is not that simple. If you are Aaron Ward, you have to make stops. Ward, who left the Michigan hockey team after his junior season for the promise of National Hockey League riches, hopes they can't get in their own towns' general stores. Nobody would confuse the two cities. They are completely different. So are Stewart and Ward. The summer before he started taking classes at Michigan, Aaron Ward lived in a house with then- Wolverine hockey players Don Stone, Denny Felsner and Jim Ballantine. Ward had no other friends in Ann Arbor, so his social life revolved around the other players. : , :;. . '