-- i ,' cyrsi 2o 'iTN P ..
PRO
BASKETBALL
Indiana 98,
TORONTO 84
ATLANTA 96,
Portland 89
ORLANDO 114,
Sacramento 103
SAN ANTONIO 64,
Cleveland 59
CHICAGO 94,
Dallas 92
HOUSTON 112,
Minnesota 103
PHOENIX 117,
Milwaukee 112
Seattle at
GOLDEN STATE, inc,
Vancouver at
L.A. CLIPPERS, inc.
PRO
HOCKEY
Colorado 4,
HARTFORD 0
Philadelphia 4,
NEW JERSEY 3
TAMPA BAY 5,
Ottawa 0
WASHINGTON 3,
St. Louis 2
Anaheim at
CALGARY, inc.
MAJOR LEAGUE
BASEBALL
CINCINNATI 6,
Detroit 1
Florida 8,
BALTIMORE 5
Pittsburgh 6,
BOSTON 4
4
Wednesday
March 26, 1997
NCAAsA
NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT
Milwaukee
takes note
of feared
Michigan '
Coaches careful to compliment
Wolverines
By Dan Stillman
Daily Sports Writer
MILWAUKEE - All four teams
still alive in the NCAA hockey tour-
nament arrived here yesterday, but
one is already drawing the most
attention.
"I really believe that when the
tournament started, it was Michigan
against the rest of the field," said
Boston University coach
Jack Parker, whose team Rad
plays the Wolverines at
7:30 p.m. tomorrow in the
second semifinal at the Thursday
Bradley Center. DaCola
Michigan, which CO rea
received a first-round vs. Nort
bye, advanced after jump-. (291-2
ing all over Minnesota, 7- 0 Michig
4, on Saturday. 4) vs. Ba
"Michigan has the .Universit
three-fold problem," 3), 7:3
Parker said. "One, they Televiso
put so much pressure on
you offensively, but Saturday
4hey're also real stingy N Semifi
defensively, and they've winners,'
got a great goaltender. Televisio
"This team, you can
not take penalties against. All game
You'll pay drastically for Bradley
North Dakota coach
Dean Blais took time to praise
Michigan as he prepared his
Fighting Sioux to take on last year's
runner-up, Colorado College.
"Certainly, Michigan seems to be
in a class by themselves, he said.
Combine the Wolverines' attempt
to be the first team to repeat as
national champions since Boston
University in 1971-72 with
Michigan captain Brendan
Morrison's bid for the Hobey Baker
Award (the winner will be
announced Friday), and Michigan is
the talk of the town.
While the Wolverines have taken
on the aura of a premier team, there
are three other schools vying for the
championship.
The biggest story
to besides the Wolverines
may be the return of
Colorado College. After
SsemnIs earning the No. I seed in
: sem the West Region last year,
before losing to Michigan
Dakota in the championship
1p.m. game, 3-2, the Tigers
n (35-3- earned a No. 5 seed in the
;ton East Region this year, with
(25-8. a record of 25-14-4.
.m. But the Tigers sur-
RE$PN2 prised everyone this past
weekend when they
s final knocked off New
al Hampshire and the No. 1
p.m. seed, Clarkson.
ESPN "We basically played
ourselves into the tourna-
at the ment," Colorado College
anter in coach Don Lucia said.
The Tigers will play the
No. 2 seed from the West
Region, North Dakota, at 1 p.m.
tomorrow. The Sioux posted a 28-
10-2 record and earned a first-round
bye after defeating Minnesota, 4-3,
in overtime in the WCHA champi-
onship game. North Dakota then
took care of Cornell in the NCAA
quarterfinals, 6-2.
See SEMIS, Page 12
Bright
Michigan
advances to
title game
with victory
By Will McCahill
Daily Sports Editor
NEW YORK -- It wasn't pretty, but
the Michigan men's basketball team
earned itself a chance to play for a cham-
pionship.
The Wolverines overcame a sloppy
first half and a pesky Arkansas squad to
pull out a 77-62 victory last night in the
semifinals of the NIT at Madison Square
Garden.
Using their patented full-court press,
the Razorbacks came back from an early
10-point deficit to cut Michigan's lead to
four at halftime, then proceeded to make
Michigan 77
~ Arkansas 62
lights,
big
things more interesting in the second
half.
After Michigan forward Jerod Ward's
two free throws with 14:03 remaining in
the half pushed the Wolverines' lead to
43-39, Arkansas sophomore guard Pat
Bradley canned a 3-pointer to narrow the
margin to one.
A foul by Razorbacks sophomore for-
ward Derek Hood put Michigan sopho-
more guard Louis Bullock on the line in
a one-and-one situation.
But the normally reliable Bullock
missed the front end, and the Razorbacks
forged ahead, 44-43, on a hook shot in
the paint by sophomore guard Ali
Thompson.
For the next three minutes, the lead
swayed back and forth, tilting in
Michigan's favor on a bucket by sopho-
more center Robert Traylor, then back to
the Razorbacks' after a jump hook by
senior center Lee Wilson.
Michigan called a 20-second timeout
after Wilson's score and turned on the
jets coming out of the break.
Junior forward Maceo Baston fol-
lowed a Bullock miss with a resounding
slam, and when Arkansas turned the ball
over on its next trip down the court,
Baston was on the receiving end of an
alley-oop from junior forward Maurice
Taylor.
And just like that, the score was 49-
46, Michigan.
A 3-pointer by Razorbacks guard
Kareem Reid tied matters briefly at 49,
but the Wolverines were soon back into
the lead and tenuously began to increase
their margin.
With just under eight minutes remain-
ing, Michigan held a 56-49 lead, and
seemed on the verge of delivering the
knockout blow.
city
0
The Big Guy di
n't come up bi
in the Big Apple
last night, scor-
ing just seven
points. But his
bulk helped °
Michigan
advance to
tomorrow's NIT.
SARA STILLMAN *
Although Arkansas had only one play-
er with size comparable to Michigan's
mammoth front line, the Razorbacks
grabbed 17 offensive rebounds to .the
Wolverines' seven.
Conlan said crashig the boards
and taking care of the ball 'woe
major themes in the lockerroom at
halftime.
"We had some turnovers at the begin-
ning, myself included," Conlan s
"But we came out in the second half h
didn't have very many at all."
Michigan had 14 turnovers at the half
- four by Conlan - and finished wi4h
22. ,
q,
4.
44
...,
Photos by WARRI
Harold Schock and Bill Muckalt celebrate with teammates Sunday.
But Arkansas hung tough, continuing
to push the ball hard up the floor. A
jumper by Wilson made the score 56-51,
and after a trey by Ward, Reid cut the
lead to six, at 59-53.
With about four minutes remaining,
Arkansas guard Glendon Alexander hit
from beyond the are to cut the margin to
five, 63-58, but that was as close as the
Razorbacks would come.
As the foul tally mounted, the
Wolverines found themselves at the free-
throw line and used their opportunities to
cushion their lead.
Baston and junior guard Travis
Conlan each hit a pair from the stripe,
and with 2:45 left in the contest,
Michigan led, 67-58.
The Razorbacks, left with little choice
but to force up quick shots, allowed the
Wolverines to blow the game wide open
in the waning moments.
Each Arkansas miss turned into an
easy transition basket for Michigan, and
the margin ballooned to 17.
The Wolverines called a 20-second
timeout with 33.5 seconds remaining to
bring in the reserves, and a Razorbacks
jumper later, the game was over.
The key to Michigan's victory was the
Wolverines' increased efforts on the
offensive glass in the second half.
L ._,.
-- -r- -
P1 .
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