2B - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, January 22, 1996 MICHIGAN Continuedfrom Page:1. arm out there to deflect it," Fisher said. Baston, whose right hand doubles as a fly-swatter, tallied four blocks, including one "catch" of an Earl layup attempt. "Maceo was big (down low,) as he has been all season," Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said. "He comes to play and doesn't talk a lot." Baston and Louis Bullock paced Michigan~(4-1, 14-4) with 13 points each. Glenn Sekunda led the Nittany Lions with 16 points and 12 boards. The freshman Bullock hit 3 of4 from long range but committed a blunder that almost cost the Wolverines the game. With 3:10 left and the score knotted at 60, Bullock nabbed an errant Earl pass and had a wide-open breakaway to put Michigan up two. Instead of taking the easy layup, though, Bullock got flashy and missed a two-handed dunk. The Nittany Lions' Phil Williams then cashed in on the other end to put his team up by a deuce with 2:45 left. "I was thinking layup the whole way down the court," said Bullock of his breakaway miss. "And then I don't know what made me go (for the dunk). Maybe it was the excitement or the crowd. I don't know what," Baston was whistled for going over the back on the Wolverines' next pos- session and Penn State had the ball, leading by two with just a couple of minutes remaining. All of Happy Valley breathed 14-0. Not so fast. In an almost exact replica of the play before, Bullock swiped another pass and was once again alone in the open floor. The freshman went up for a layup this time - but the results were the same. Except this time, Baston was there to follow Bullock's miss. It was 62-62 with 1:42 left. The Nittany Lions' Glenn Sekunda then hit acouple of free throws, but Fife answered from behind the arc and the Wolverines led, 65-64, with 55 seconds remaining. Crisler went nuts. Dunn called time. Out of the huddle, Donovan Will- iams' 14-footer gave Penn State a one- point lead with just 24 seconds to play. Then came back-to-back Michigan timeouts to set up "Denver." "We'll have to learn from this pain- fully and move on," Dunn said. "We didn't do what we needed to do come crunch time. They executed and got the win." The Wolverines enjoyed a 38-32 lead at intermission thanks to a 16-0 run and a Nittany Lion scoring drought that lasted 6:30. Albert White's 3-pointer gave the Wolverines a 27-16 lead mid- way through the first half and a rout seemed possible. It didn't happen. The Nittany Lions weren't 13-0 coming in because they had been lucky. Methodical and poised, Penn State closed to within six at the ,half and came out of the lockerroom with a 13-2 run to grab a 45-40 lead. Michigan then answered with a 15-2 ;spurt before I I straight Nittany Lion points put Dunn's bunch back up 58- :55. A Bullock trey knotted matters at 58 sand neither team led by more than a bucket over the final 5:14. Despite loss, Penn " State is the real tbing By Michael Rosenberg Daily Editor in Chief That pesky Penn State men's basketball team kept threatening to beat Michigan yesterday, but the Wolverines finally put the Nittany Lions away for good. For good'? For now. "Any time you have a battle like this, you look forward to another one," said Penn State forward Matt Gaudio. "It was like a heavyweight fight out there, punch for punch." The Wolverines visit Penn State's new Bryce Jordan Center Feb. 22. And unlike in heavyweight boxing, don't look for this one to be postponed. "We can get them at our place next time," said Nittany Lion center Calvin Booth. The nation's basketball fans may look at Penn State's performance at Crisler Arena yesterday as a great effort. The Nittany Lions say it was a missed opportunity. "I don't care what the country thinks," Booth said. "We still lost. We've gotta come in and win games like this." Forgive the Nittany Lions if they reacted hard to the loss. They're not used to it. Penn State came into yesterday's game with a 13-0 record. That only impressed, oh, most of State College. Part of the reason is the schedule. The Nittany Lions hadn't beaten a team ranked in the top 25 all season. Of their 13 victims, only Santa Clara is likely to make the NCAA Tournament. Last Thurs- day Michigan forward Maceo Baston had joked that Penn State's wins were against "Huckabuck State or whatever." Michigan almost joined the likes of Huckabuck State yesterday. The Nittany Lions were ranked 14th in the most recent poll - highest among Big ' teams but well below Cincinnati and Mass- chusetts, the nation's only other undefeated teams. Part of the reason is history. Penn State's bas- ketball past is about as storied as its new arena. in State College, basketball has been that little game you play between football and spring football. The Nittany Lions have made the NCAA Tourna- ment once in the last 30 years. But Penn State made a decision early in the year to shun history and win some games, and it' worked pretty well so far. First-year coach Je Dunn's team may not be ready to win the national championship, but the Big Ten title is a legitimate goal. "I've always thought we were a good team ," Dunn said. "I still think we're a good team." Was the loss to Michigan a learning experi- ence? "I like to learn things by winning," Dunn said. The Nittany Lions have taken a unique ap- proach to the criticism. "Most of the time we just laugh," Gaudio sa. "We knew we were going to get that at the beginning of the year. This team believes in itself and has for a while." The number of believers is growing quickly. A dd Steve Fisher to the list of coaches who have nothing but praise for Penn State. "We beat a very good team," Fisher said. "We found a way to win down the stretch and I'm proud of that." The Wolverines have won the first bout. The rematch is set for Thursday, Feb. 22 at the Bryn Jordan Center. The winner may be the front- runner for the conference title. Penn State is training already. ELIZABETH LIPPMAN/Daily Maceo Baston (left) and Maurice Taylor celebrate the Wolverines' 67-66 victory over previously undefeated Penn State. Taylor dunked to win the game with nine seconds left; Baston had 13 points, seven rebounds and four blocks, including one to preserve the win as time ran out. Tight wms By Paul Barger Daily Sports Writer The most noticeable difference in this year's Michigan men's basketball team is its ability to win close contests. Yesterday's 67-66 victory over No. 14 Penn State gave the Wolverines their fourth victory of the season by four are a new M' trend points or less. Other last-minute against Washing- ton, LSU, and Duke. Coincidentally, the winsover Washing- ton and Duke ended with blocked shots by center Maceo Baston, as did. yesterday's contest. Baston sealed a victory over Iowa last season with a blocked shot in the victories came s etb I Notebook final moments of double overtime. For the most part, however, Michi- gan lost most of its close games last year. During the 1994-95 campaign the Wolverines dropped heartbreakers to Pennsylvania, Washington, St. John's, and two to Michigan State. All of those games came down to the last possession. "We're a little bit more focused now," sophomore Willie Mitchell said, "We think about team more this year." That team concept was exemplified in Michigan's final basket ofyesterday's win. Senior captain Dugan Fife called the play that led to Maurice Taylor's decisive dunk, giving up his body with a screen on Penn State's 6-1 I center Calvin Booth. "He called a play out for somebody else," Mitchell said. "That just shows our team's unselfishness because (Dugan) had just hit a big shot." INDIANA SUFFERS Loss: The Wolver- ines take on Indiana at 7:30 p.m. tomor- row in Bloomington. The Hoosiers lost guard Sherron Wilkerson this week when he was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery. Indiana coach Bob Knight an- nounced Friday that Wilkerson had been kicked off the team and may lose his scholarship. If convicted, Wilkerson could face up to a year in prison and a $5,000 fine. PSU INTilE P0oL.1s: The No.l14 ranking that the Nittany Lions brought into Ann Arbor is the highest that they have been ranked since the 1953-54 season. In fact, this is the first time in 30 years that Penn State has even been in the top 25. The Lions also boasted a No.7 rating by the Sagarin computer poll and a No. 11 rating by the Ratings Percentage Index before suffering their first defeat of the season. CHARITY STRIPE: It appears that Michigan is finally taking advantage of its opportunities from the free throw line. The Wolverines were 10-of-l I yesterday, missing only one free throw for the second consecutive contest. Last Saturday against Michigan State, Michigan was 16-of-17 from the stripe. Against Illinois the Wolverines hit 21 of Write the [ 28. i This is a remarkable turn of events considering that Steve Fisher's squad is shooting barely over 60 percent from the line for the season. CRISL ER ADVANT A(A.: M ichigan's home-court advantage is undeniable. The Wolverines have not dropped a game at Crisler Arena since they lost to St. John's last Super Bowl Sunday. That amounts to a 15-game home win- ning streak and a 9-0 record in Ann Arbor this year. Michigan has had two undefeated seasons at Crisler, 1973-74 and 1976- 77. The Wolverines had only one home Big Ten loss last year (Michigan State) and have only six home losses since the beginning of the 1992-93 campaign. Tli\ IONiM: Michigan is get- ting a great deal of exposure on national television. Includingyesterday's game, the Wolverines will be on either CBS or ESPN for four straight contests. To- morrow night's game at Indiana and next Wednesday'sgameat homeagainst Big Ten co-leader Purdue will be tele- vised by FSPN. Michigan clash with lowa next Sun- day at Carver-H-awkeye Arena will be on CBS. ELIZABETH LIPPMAN/Daily Michigan students celebrate after the Wolverines' win. 'Huckabuck State' is a reference to the quality of teams Maceo Baston claimed Penn State had beaten. MciNTOSH Continued from Page 1B has possession, fans interpret him pass- ing up shots as a reluctance to wear the mantle of team leader. "It's not really a reluctance," Fife said. "I take my shots in the flow of the game -- if it's open, I'll take it." It was open yesterday, and Fife took it - to the amazement of many in the crowd. He took it with aconfidencethat has really bloomed during the past few games. Since his starting streak ended at 65 games against Arizona Nov. 22, Fife has developed into a solid role player. He comes off the bench to provide quiet assists, tenacious defense and solid ball- handling. He hesitates less over open shots now, but his real contributions come when the ball is in someone else's hands. "The media and the fans don't realize what he does, deflecting loose balls and stuff," Conlan said. "He's less verbal -Maurice and idothat--but Dugan's the action guy." -- ----- )aily. daiy.leffers@umiz. edu _____ That's a claim you probably wouldn't have heard at the start of the season: Dugan's the action guy. Fife is mu@ more valuable now, coming off the bench, than he ever was as a starter. He plays smart and tough, rarely makes mental mistakes, and consistently takes the court with a businesslike atti- tude: Come into the game, do my job, and don't worry too much if my contri- bution doesn't draw much acclaim. Fife won't point out that, hey, I had five assists and two steals and didn't turn the ball over once against Pec State. He won't dispute you when you assert that Baston, or Bullock or Conlan or Taylor, was the crucial cl- ement in the Wolverines' nix yester- day. He won't trump up his own im- portance. But make no mistake: Fife is impor- tant to Michigan. He's the heady guard who makes up in work ethic what he lacks in talent. He's the senior captain; lie's the tough defender, the stab iliz.* He's the action guy. - Brent McIntosh can be / cached over e-mail at mctosh 4,umich.edui. Write for the Daily Mass Meetin' Wednesday, Jan. 24 at 7 pm. Student Publications Bldg 420 Maynard "*"@ " " # " # # " #o " "# "" #" ""e"i "# #".#" "" # # " # "e # # ". ". " " " " " " 4 Financial Aid Applicants: The deadline for applications for Spring/Summer 1996 Financial Aid is: " " " " " " " " " " " " SUMMER EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES 1996 SUMMER CAMPS OF CHAMPIONS 0 " a S x { 0 Y S Wednesday, January 31, 1996 0 " AT TE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS WILL BE HIRING SUMMER CAMP STA FFERS " " " Thp n ffi n f I m