i l le itf igFat i tt ,: Blue icers swept for first time in 2 years By Sharat Raju Daily Sports Writer OXFORD - For weeks, the hockey showdown between No. 4 Michigan and No. 7 Miami was highly regarded as a test for each team. If that is indeed the case, then Michigan is going to have to do some more studying. The first-place Wolverines (14-4-1 CCHA, 20-6-1 overall) were swept by RedHawks (12-5-2, 17-5-2). Miami won 4-3 on Saturday and 3-1 on Sunday at Groggin Ice Arena. "We battled hard and it feels like we should have came out of here with more than no points on the weekend," Michigan right wing Bill Muckalt said. "But you have weekends like that and it's better now than later." The situation appeared out of hand for the Wolverines after seven minutes into the third period in Saturday's game. The RedHawks went up 3-1 and quickly made it 4-1 after Miami 'M' depo right wing Marc Tropper and left wing Adam Copeland each scored within 20 seconds of each other. "We tried keep the puck on the wall against them and take away their transition game," Miami coach Mark Mazzoleni said. The Wolverines played strong defense for the remainder of the period. At 13:48, Michigan freshman Josh Langfeld blast- ed a shot from the left slot past Miami goaltender Trevor Prior, cutting Miami's lead to two goals. With 58 seconds left to play in the game, the Wolverines made it really interesting. Michigan goaltender Marty Turco was pulled to give the Wolverines an extra skater. Gregg Crozier skated onto the ice, took a pass from captain Matt Herr fromjust beyond the left faceoff dot, and scored top shelf on Prior. "Coming back from behind on the road is tough," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "And we finally did come from behind but it was too little, too late. "We showed that we can come from behind. This team is not going to give up, this team has got a lot of character' he said. But the four-goal lead proved to be insurmountable, as Michigan was unable to score in the last 58 seconds to force an overtime. "The third goal was a big one," Berenson said. "Then to get another one right after that, obviously, is a killer." The Wolverines could have legitimately won the game if they had been able to cash in on any number of golden oppor- tunities. The Wolverines were on a 5-on-3 power play in the first period, but were unable to capitalize. Muckalt and Herr each had a breakaway opportunity, only to have Prior make game-saving saves for Miami. "When two of your top scorers get breakaways and neither of them score, your team's not having it's best game,' Berenson said. See REDHAWKS Page 48 its Iowa wi a bank MARGARET MYERS/Daily Robert Traylor and the Wolverines were all right st Illinois. They had trouble from outside. ichigan falls rM_ first wit 4-5 road loss Mark Snyder y Sports Writer CHAMPAIGN - Playing before a capacity crowd is noth- g new for Michigan. Playing well in front of hostile fans may be. Following one of their traditionally lethargic starts in both alves on the road, the Wolverines couldn't catch up yesterday, terally throwing the game away while losing 64-53 to Illinois IBig Ten, 13-7 overall) in front of a sellout crowd of 16,450 Assembly Hall. The loss knocked them out of first place. Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe said another "inspired team" >ppled the Wolverines, but it was his team that fell short. "Defensively, we played well enough to win, but offensively didn't," he said. "We should have been playing well eoungh beat this team:' Much like in previous road defeats at Bradley and Indiana, ichigan's late first-half run was insufficient. In each of those ntests, as was true yesterday, the home team capitalized on jljigan's miscues. 's hard to play when you're down on the road," Michigan uard Travis Conlan said. In the closing 10 minutes, it was the ighting Illini defense that clamped down on Michigan (5-2, 5-5) holding Michigan to its lowest scoring output this season. The Wolverines shot just 27 percent in the second half and ed just 12 points in the final eight minutes. Mistakes con- nued to plague Michigan as nearly every player had a hand in giveaways. Maceo Baston's charge with 4:55 left, and clear-out foul on e next offensive possession proved emblematic of the strug- les Michigan's big men faced. And with 2:07 left, the white as waved by Ellerbe, as a flu-stricken Robert Traylor took ch seat after his fourth foul, watching as first place slipped ay from the Wolverines. See ILUNI, Page 5B oss makes bik - eck only bge HAMPAIGN - They were feeling pretty good, these Wolverines, after three straight Big Ten coaches had lamented publicly the impossibility of defending against ier' powerful inside-outside offense that pounded from the "eand bombed from the arc. Pick your poison," said Jim O'Brien, Clem Haskins and tgiven Lon Kruger. All three coaches said it. O'Brien's team Haskins's team believed it, after Michigan whipped each in rn. Kruger's team, though, decided to Irtething about it. In the most impressive defensive per- armance against Michigan so far this eson, Illinois hounded, hawked and mothered the shell-shocked Wolverines o 33-percent shooting and a season- 53 points yesterday in Assembly , IJ. Make no mistake about it, the JIM ighting Illini defense made a statement ROSE esterday in a convincing 11-point victo- at not only stood up to the vaunted Rose Beef igan offense but knocked it back a Bee _ _ ew steps as well. Illinois swarmed Robert Traylor from the opening tip, and ebig man managed just 10 points. His two helpless airballs in e first half were emblematic of his frustration all afternoon. fer the game, he said he was "a little under the weather," and, Murray's 3 sends game into overtime By Josh Kleinbaum Daily Sports Writer Molly Murray nailed a 3-pointer with 7.3 seconds left in regulation to force overtime and Pollyanna Johns iced the game with a free throw with three seconds left in the extra stanza as the Michigan women's basketball team beat Iowa, 69-65, yesterday in front of 2,303 fans at Crisler Arena. The game followed a 79-63 loss to No. 17 Wisconsin on Friday. Stacey Thomas led the Wolverines (6-4 Big Ten, 14-6 overall) with an all- around per- t6 Michigan 69 adding 16 Iowa 65 points to II rebounds, two steals and an assist. Forward Tangela Smith paced Iowa (6-2, 9-8) with 16 points and 10 rebounds. The Wolverines relied on defense and free throws to win the game in overtime. They only allowed two bas- kets in the period and their nine points came off of 7-for-I10 shooting from the stripe and an Ann Lemire layup. But the key play of the game was Murray's trey to force overtime. Coming out of a timeout with I1 sec- onds left, Murray inbounded the ball to point guard Anne Thorius. Three sec- onds later, Thorius found Murray coin- ing off a screen by Johns. "We were supposed to have a double screen up top," Michigan coach Sue Guevara said, "but she didn't get a dou- ble, she got a single. It was a good screen, she got a good pass and she got a great look at the basket." Murray took Thorius' pass with 7.3 seconds left, and found herself oper. about a foot beyond the 3-point line. The senior, who holds Michigan's all- time career 3-point record, didn't miss. "We never should have lost the game,' Iowa coach Angie Lee said. "That was a game Iowa won, and i slipped right out of our hands. They should never have gotten the three off' The Wolverines almost won the game in regulation when Thorius stok See HAWKEYES, Page GE WARREN ZINN/Daily Strong as she was making moves like this, Pollyana Johns did best when delicate. Her free throw with three seconds left in overtime iced the game. roncos blitz Packers 3 24 Elwa wins first Super Bowl; AFC gets first win since 1984 9 0 The Associated Press SAN DIEGO (AP) - The old dude finally did it. John Elway and the Denver Broncos won a Super Bowl for themselves and the AFC by beat- ing the Green Bay Packers, 31-24, yesterday in one of the most exciting games ever. It gave the 37-year-old Elway his first win in four tries and the AFC its first in 14. Sure, he had help. He got it from MVP Terrell Davis, who gained 157 yards in 30 carries and scored on three I-yard runs, including the winner with 1:45 left in the game. Davis did it despite a migraine headache that caused him to miss most of the second quar- ter. For Elway, carried off the field by his team- mates, this was vindication in perhaps his last shot first team ever to lose five - it lost one in 1978, before Elway arrived. The win meant vindication for the AFC, which hadn't won since the Raiders, then in Los Angeles, beat Washington 38-9 in 1984, Elway's first sea- son. And finally, it was the first win for the quarter- back class of 1983 that included Elway, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino. "I knew it was a time coming for him," Davis said of his quarterback. The final chance for the defending champion Packers ended when John Mobley knocked down Brett Favre's pass from the Denver 31 with 28 sec- onds left. That made the two-touchdown underdog Broncos the second wild-card team to win the Super Bowl. "Thev dikremctri us al1week." Denver tight w uu w m w