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Another Texan commits to 'M' football
Grady Brooks, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker from Dallas Lincoln High
School, has verbally committed to Michigan, The Ann Arbor News
reported Tuesday. He is the sixth Texas player and first linebacker to
commit to Michigan this year. Brooks, who has a 2.7 GPA, is still
awaiting his standardized test results.
Thursday 9A
February 1, 1996
Michigan
wrestlers
0
pinned by
Spartans
By Will McCahll
DailySports Writer
To have it or not to have it, that's
the question.
The "it" is, in this case, experience,
and lvhen it comes down to the crunch,
heVichigan wrestling team doesn't
have it.
Est night, the No. 17 Wolverines
y came out on the wrong side of
close one, losing to No. 4 Michigan
tate in front of a full house at Cliff
Keen Arena.
As has been the case in each of
ichigan's previous two meets, the
olverines managed only one win in
he first few matches. The difference
'n this contest, however, was that one
f these losses was a pin, making that
articular victory worth six points in-
3 d of the usual three or four.
fter a loss by freshman Joe War-
ren at 118 pounds, sophomore Bran-
don Howe gained a decision over
Spartan Brian Bolton to pull Michi-
gan within a point at 4-3.
Wolverine freshman Corey Grant
followed with a closd overtime loss to
Michigan State senior captain Jed
Kramer at 134, and then the roof fell
in.
ess than two minutes into the first
period, eighth-ranked Spartan senior
Phil Judge pinned 142 pound fresh-
man-Jeff Reese, giving the visitors a
huge 10-point lead.
"The slimmest difference in the dual
meet was the difference between
throwing a freshman out there against
a fifth-year senior at 142," Michigan
coach Dale Bahr said.
Sophomores Bill Lacure and Jeff
abone, at 150 and 158 pounds,
r pectively, both won four-point
major decisions to bring the Wolver-
ines within two at 13-11, once again
leaving the fate of the meet hanging
in the balance going into the last four
matches.
A loss by Michigan's Josh Young
at 167 and a win by Wolverine senior
captain Jesse Rawls Jr. rang the score
to 17-14, Spartans, and the night's
rIt was placed squarely on the
shoulders of Michigan senior Lanre
Olabisi in the penultimate match at
190 pounds.
Olabisi kept the contest against
eighth-ranked Spartan Brian Picklo
close into the third stanza.
But when Picklo followed up an
escape with a takedown with less than
a minute remaining, Michigan's fate
-barring a pin in the final heavy-
weight contest - was sealed.
*Oichigan's No. 7 heavyweight
Airron Richardson, who saved not
only .the day but the entire past
weekend for the Wolverines with
key wins at No. 8 Illinois and No.
18 Northwestern, came close to get-
ting the critical pin early in the first
period.
But his opponent, Jason Peterson,
was able to stall Richardson long
eugh to hold him to a 9-1 major
ision.
In a situation that is becoming all
too familiar to Bahr and his troops,
there isn't too much to tell the heavier
wrestlers as they go into their matches
needing to pull the Wolverines out of
sizable holes.
"We tell them we have to get a pin,"
Bahr said. "Once you lose a pin you've
got-to offset it with a pin."
Despite the loss, Bahr was upbeat
*ut last night's event.
"I think it's a great match for wres-
tling, whenever you get two highly
competitive schools and you get (a
capacity crowd) on a cold winter
night," he said.
"I'd like to have won the (meet),
but the matches were exciting, and
that's good for wrestling."
CAMP 9
for E
PURDUE 80, MICHIGAN 59
Boilennakers
squash Blue
Purdue rolls to victory
By Barry Sollenberger
Daily Sports Editor
As far as the Michigan men's basketball team's
Big Ten chances are concerned, one thing is clear.
The Wolverines have a tough, tough challenge
ahead of them in the race for the conference title.{One
that borders on mission impossible.
Purdue's 80-59 waxing of No. 20 Michigan (4-4
Big Ten, 14-7 overall) in front of 13,562 at Crisler
Arena made sure of that.
Though they weren't expected to contend for the
league title, the two-time defending Big Ten cham-
pion Boilermakers (6-2, 16-4) aren't ready to hand
over their crownjust yet. Michigan had absolutely no
clue against No. 17 Purdue in the blowout loss.
"This is not the way we had scripted it," Michigan
coach Steve Fisher said. "From the get-go, we were
manhandled on our home court and humiliated and
embarrassed in every way possible."
The loss also snapped the Wolverines' 15-game
home winning streak.
The Boilermakers came into the game without a
starter averaging more than 10.9 points per game.
Purdue hasn't won 16 games this season by being
lucky, though. The Boilermakers have beaten teams
playing good ol' team basketball and last night was
no exception.
They had the Wolverines dead and buried by
halftime.
"They came out and took it to us from the start,"
Michigan's Macco Baston said. "Before we knew it,
we were down 20 points."
Purdue led early, 15-13, and then things went
rotten for Michigan.
After six straight points gave the Boilermakers a
21-13 lead, Baston picked up his third foul on a
charge under his own basket.
The sophomore center sat on the bench for the final
10:17 of the first half.
With Baston on the bench, Purdue erupted like Mt.
St. Helens.
A couple of possessions after Baston left, the
Boilermakers' Brandon Brantley dunked and Robert
Traylor hammered him from behind. The resulting
free throw made it 24-13 Purdue with 9:28 left until
ntermission.
From there, it only got worse for the Wolverines.
Much, much worse.
Purdue's Justin Jennings sandwiched ajumper and
a 3-pointer around a Traylor dunk, Chad Austin hit
See PURDUE, Page 11A
Willie Mitchell and the Wolverines were downed by Purdue last night. The 80-59 loss was Michigan's worst at home since 1984-85.
Wolvennes troubled bi all areas ofgm
it's easy to isolate what went wrong for the Michigan
men's basketball team last night.
The game.
There may be a good reason why the Wolverines played
so badly against Purdue - collective food poisoning comes
to mind - but chances are, the only malady Michigan was
suffering from was sprained determina-
tion.
"We were dominated in every phaseI
of the game from start to finish," said
Michigan coach Steve Fisher.
When that happens, winning is kind
of tough.
Q. Which two Purdue players scored
more than Michigan in the first half? M
A) Chad Austin and Roy Hairston. MICHAEL
B) Austin and Justin Jennings. ROSENBERG
C) Austin and Brandon Brantley. Roses are
The answer, of course, is D) All of Read
the above. Well, Austin and Hairston
actually tied the Wolverines, but hey,
what's a point here or there when you're Purdue?
The final score read "Purdue 80, Michigan 59." It wasn't
that close. It wasn't even close to that close. This game was
a blowout from the start, and when that happens, statistics
become misleading, if not meaningless. Example: Bullock
scored 17 points, but was never a factor.
"I think we had some effort in areas, but the bottom line
is we let them come out and push us around," Bullock said.
You needed to be a historian to remember the last time
Michigan had a lead. It was with 14 minutes left in the first
half, when the Wolverines were up 11-10. Then Purdue
went on a little 33-12 run to end the half with a 44-22 lead.
Naturally, the Boilermakers were disappointed.
"We were unhappy as a staff that we gave up as many
points as we did," said Purdue coach Gene Keady.
Yeah, well, that's something to work on.
Coming into the game, the Boilermakers weren't
supposed to be a great offensive team. Last night, they
didn't have to be. Michigan's defense was like a fresh
batch of donuts - soft and with plenty of holes.
At times in the first half, Michigan looked like it was
blaming its nightmare on the referees. That's like Noah
blaming the flood on the weatherman.
"We have to learn not to whine when it gets physical but
just get physical right back," guard Louis Bullock said.
In truth, Michigan's problems could be broken down
into four areas of disappointment - guards, forwards,
centers and coaches. When you lose by 21 at home, it's a
total team effort.
Purdue is a good team. With 100 percent effort, the
Wolverines still might not have won.
But it would have been nice to find out.
The Wolverines did start to crawl out of the hole in the
second half, much as a caterpillar could crawl out of the
Grand Canyon. But the caterpillar would probably need
more than 20 minutes to do it. So would Michigan.
See ROSENBERG, Page 11A
MARK
Maurice Taylor puts home one of Michigan's few highlights.
Michigan-Ohio State
hockey preview - in
tomorrow's Daily.
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