The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, January 30, 1995 - 5 RED STORM Continued from page 1 half. Scott ended the stanza stealing the ball from Jackson and taking it the length of the floor for an uncon- tested dunk. "I just went out and played hard," Scott said. "It was time for me to up and time for us to get a win. We needed to get this monkey of our back." Coming into the game the Wol- verines knew that they would have to contend with freshmen sensation Felipe Lopez, who came in averag- ing 19.3 points per game. Michigan controlled him, limiting Lopez to just 11 points but they couldn't con- Scott. Today we saw the skill he has," said Lopez, who pulled down nine rebounds. "I feel really happy for him." For Michigan, Jackson led the way with a career high 27 points. Maceo Baston had his second- straight productive game with 15 points and six rebounds. "I just go out there and bust my t," Baston said. The Wolverines didn't get their normal production in other areas on the court, though. Maurice Taylor struggled after getting into early foul trouble and finished with nine points and King made just 6 of his 18 shots. "I think that excuse that we haven't jelled yet has worn out," Taylor said. "We have jelled. We're jg not consistent." The loss doesn't effect Michigan's standing in Big Ten play, which resumes Wednesday against Wisconsin, but it leaves the Wolver- Blue's battle with St. ines at 11 wins play. with ten games to ST. JOHN'S (82) FO FfTREB WN M-A M-A O-T A F PTS Scott 35 10-14 6-6 2-5 0 1 28 Minlend 33 3-6 5.6 3-8 2 3 11 Hamilton 24 4.7 5.6 2-5 1 0 13 Lopez 34 5-16 0-0 3-9 1 3 11 Turner 25 2-4 0-0 0-1 4 2 4 McLeod 14 2-4 2-2 0-3 0 3 6 Brown 12 0-4 00 1-4 22 0 Barrett 14 3.9 0.0 1-2 0 0 7 Bayne 9 1-2 0-0 1-1 0 1 2 Team 0-0 4-5 Totals 200 30466 1&20 17-43 1015 82 F%:.455. FT%: .900. Three-point goals: 4-14, .286 (Scott 2-4, Barrett 1-2, Lopez 1-6). Blocks: 2 (Hamilton, McLeod). Turnovers: 16 (Scott 4, Minlend 4, Brown 2, Lopez 2, Barrett, Hamilton, McLeod, Turner). Steals: 5 (Scott 2, Barrett, Brown, McLeod). Technical Fouls: none. MICHIGAN (77) FO FT REB MIN M-A 1-A O-T A F PTS Jackson 38 11-17 5-5 3£ 1 1 27 Taylor 24 4-11 1-2 1-3 1 4 9 Ndiaye 21 35 0-0 3.8 2 2 6 King 35 6-18 1-1 0.2 6 1 13 Fife 30 0-0 0-0 1-5 4 3 0 Baston 25 6-10 3-7 4.6 0 5 15 Mitchell 13 3.6 0-0 1-2 1 1 7 Conlan 13 0-1 0-2 0-1 0 0 0 Crawford 1 0-0 00 0-0 0 0 0 Team 0-0 0.1 Totals 200 3348 10.17 1334 1517 77 FG%:.485. FT%:.588. Three-poInt goals: 1-11, .091 (Mitchell). Blocks: 7 (Baston 3, Jackson, Taylor, Ndiaye, Mitchell).Turnovers: 16 (Fife 3,Taylor 3, King 2, Jackson 2, Ndiaye 2, Baston, Conlan, Mitchell, Team 1). Steals: 9 (Fife 3, King 2, Baston, Conlan, Jackson, Taylor) Technical Fouls:none. St. John's...........47 35 - 82 Michigan 40 37 - 77 At:: Crisler Arena; A: 13,562. By Paul Barger Daily Basketball Writer When the 1994-95 Michigan men's basketball schedule was released, many people focused on Jan. 29. That was the day Michigan and its No.1-ranked group of freshman would take on St. John's, led by super new- comer Felipe Lopez. All signs pointed to an exciting matchup between the future stars of the NCAA. The excitement never materialized. The freshman played well for both teams, but it was not the performance that CBS and its national audience were looking for. Lopez scored only 11 points while missing 11 of 16 shots. He was 1 of 6 from 3-point range. Lopez's afternoon was not spectacular, but he was still a factor in the Red Storni's victory. "Felipe struggled, but he got nine rebounds," St. John's coach Brian Mahoney said. "He was doing it in other ways." Lopez is coming off of a Big East conference game Wednesday that was hyped as a freshman battle as well. In that contest, he was outplayed by Georgetown freshman Alan Iverson, who is looking more and more like the top newcomer in the nation. Zendon Hamilton, St. John's other highly-rated freshman, was a presence atcenterthroughout the game. He scored 13 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and con- sistently caused Michigan players to alter their shots in the lane. The young Wolverines provided the fans with moments of excitement, but they never really got started yesterday. Maceo Baston, following his outstand- ing performance against Indiana, scored 15 points and tallied six rebounds. The center got the unenthused crowd into the game with three blocks and avariety of dunks. "I don't pay much attention to com- paring freshman," Baston said. "It wasn't on my mind. I just go out there and do my job." Forward Maurice Taylor got into early foul trouble and played a limited role during the game. He scored 9 points in 24 minutes of action, but missed many easy opportunities for buckets. Willie Mitchell, who was only in the game for 13 minutes, scored 7 points, including Michigan's only 3-pointeron the afternoon. "It's just a game like any other game," freshman Travis Conlan said. "Coach didn't talk about (the freshmen matchup) but it was in the back of our heads. All we wanted was a victory and we didn't accomplish that." The Wolverines' top-rated recruit, Jerod Ward, is out indefinitely with a torn Meniscus in his knee. Ward and Lopez were considered by most to be the top two players in the country coming out of high school. DOUGLAS KANTER/Dally Michigan's Makhtar Ndlaye fights for a rebound during yesterday's loss to St. John's. Ndlaye led the Wolverines in rebounding with eight boards on the afternoon. TARGET Continued from page 1 Big Ten game and we just took it too lightly." In reality, it had to be a tough ,e for the Wolverines to get up fo . During the past two weeks they had won big games on the road at Illinois and at Indiana, and lost a tough, emotional game to Michigan State at home - all of which had implications on the conference race. After all of that, in such a short a'ount of time, what would the deal be about an 8-7 St. John's team that had posted wins over powerhouses Bowling Green and coppin State. It wasn't just the players, though. Michigan coach Steve Fisher wasn't nearly as vocal as he was in Indiana where, for most of the night, his face was as red as Bob Knight's sweater. And if the Wolverines were hoping to get any help from their fans, as they did in their double- overtime victory over Iowa, they were let down. There were nearly 500 empty seats, most in the student section, reinforcing the fact that many did not consider the Red Storm to be a formidable opponent. Without the game, Michigan would have had eight days off between contest. Fisher said that St. John's was scheduled because last season, after the Wolverines had more than a week off, they came back and played "awful." What he got, with the game, was an awful loss that dropped Michigan's non-conference record to .500. Quite frankly, Michigan could have used the rest, and what Fisher has to hope for now is that it won't take momentum away from a Big Ten season that his team was rolling through. The Wolverines had fixed many of the problems that had plagued them in the first two months of the season. They were finally making the open shots and out-rebounded Indiana 44-27. Against St. John's, Michigan repeatedly missed easy put backs and were dominated on the glass. Furthermore, the intense defense that the Wolverines had been playing for entire games was sporadic at best. Michigan is lucky to the extent that all the loss did was make a bad non-conference record worse. The 6-6 record won't look good to the the NCAA Tournament selection comitee, but continued success in the Big Ten will make that a moot point. The Wolverines have to make sure that they don't continue the bad habits that re-surfaced against the Red Storm when they face Wisconsin on Wednesday. If they are able to put the loss behind them it will simply be a meaningless defeat in a pointless game. If not, though, it could result in something Michigan hasn't seen in a while - the National Invitaional Tournament. DOUGLAS KANTER/Daily Michigan's Maceo Baston fails to the floor after grabbing a rebound against St. John's yesterday. BASKEiBALLNOTEBOOK By Paul Barger Daily Basketball Writer Michigan's loss to St. John's yesterday marks the first time since 1981- 82 that the Wolverines have dropped 6 nonconference games. During the 1981-82 season, the Wolverines lost 8 nonconference games and finished 8-19 overall. Two of Michigan's losses this season have come at home, putting the team's NCAA tournament hopes in doubt. "It was a big game," freshman Travis Conlan said. "We needed that win for the tournament. Our nonconference record is 6-6 and (the NCAA tournament) is not looking too good." The Wolverines still have 12 games remaining on the schedule. GREAT SCOTT: St. John's James Scott had a career high 28 points Sunday. His previous high was 26, which he reached twice in his career. Scott was 10 of 14 from the field and hit two of four 3-point attempts. THIRD TIME NOT A CHARM: Yesterday's game marked the third time Michigan and St. John's have ever met. The Red Storm have never lost to the Wolverines. Michigan's first two losses to the Red Storm occurred in the Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden in 1965 and 1972. "$ Our non-conference record is 6-6 and the (NCAA tournament) is not looking too good." - Travis Conlan 'M' gets blown awayby Scott and the Red Storm The Wolverines have ended the home winning streaks of Tennessee- Chattanooga (27), Illinois (13) and Indiana (50). HOME NOT SO SWEET HOME: Michigan's home record this year is 4-3. Last. year the Wolverines lost two home games the entire season. Fan support has been lacking as well. All the tickets are sold, but the seats in the student section have not been filled once this entire season; not even for last week's Michigan State game. A . -. A