MEN'S
COLLEGE
BASKETBALL
2) Duke 70,
CLEMSON 66
IOWA 88.
(6) Purdue 69
(10) Kentucky 79,
FLORIDA 54
(16) ARKANSAS 96,
(13) S. Carolina 88
(14) Mississippi 83,
Louisiana State 57
(25) Rhode Island 87,
(20) MASS. 85
MINNESOTA 82,
Penn State 77
WOMEN'S
COLLEGE
BASKETBALL
(2) Connecticut 86,
ST. JOHN'S 50
(18) Alabama 87,
GA. SOUTHERN 48
(19) CLEMSON 87,
N.C. Asheville 50
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Tracking 'M' teams
The Michigan women's swimming and diving team will
head to Bloomington this weekend to defend their Big
Ten title. Preliminaries start at noon and the finals
start at 7 p.m.
Thursday
February 19, 1998
9A
The
State
ews
Spartan seniors
seeking respect,
onferenece title
By Fred Link
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - For the past three years, the
seniors on the No. 3 Michigan State hockey team have
played in the shadows of their more successful rivals in
Ann Arbor.
In their three years at Michigan State, they have
atched as their rivals have won three CCH A regular sea-
on championships, two CCHA playoff championships,
and an NCAA championship.
The Spartans hadn't won a title of any kind - until this
season's Great Lakes Invitational.
"I think we've been overshadowed a bit" Michigan
State senior center Sean Berens said. "Since I've been
here, Michigan has been the team to beat. And it's tough
when you go around like that - when you're Michigan
State and you have to play against Michigan when they've
got the national championship and the exceptional
records and all that.
"We've had good records here, but its almost like you
don't get the same respect as the University of Michigan
because we haven't had a national championship. It's
tough, but that's what makes the rivalry great."
But this season, things were supposed to be different.
After losing nine seniors, including Hobey Baker Award
winner Brendan Morrison, Michigan was expected to
have an off-year. Meanwhile, the Spartans returned a
group of experienced players including Berens, Tyler
Harlton -- the best defenseman in the CCH A last year --
aind honorable mention all-CCHA goaltender Chad
dIban.
Michigan State was picked to finish first in both the
CCHA coaches and media preseason polls.
"Since I've been here they've always had our number,"
Alban said. "They always won the big games. They've
won championships, and they've had a good hockey
team. We've had a good hockey team too, but they always
seemed to beat us in the big games.
"But now the tide is turning a little bit. We've got a real
good team this year and they lost some key players last
year."
*After leading the CCHA for the first two months of the
season, the Spartans faltered, losing games to lesser foes
like Notre Dame and Alaska-Fairbanks.
But once again, the Spartans find themselves trailing
the Wolverines in CCHA standings. With 10 freshmen on
the roster, Michigan has played well above expectations
and with just six games remaining in the regular season,
Michigan leads second-place Michigan State by three
points.
And even though the Spartans hlave beaten the
Wolverines twice this season - one of those for their
rst GLI title since 1985 - and are ranked higher in the
national polls, the Michigan State seniors are still looking
for their first CCHA title.
And without two victories over Michigan this week-
end, Michigan State's players know their regular season
title chances are slim.
"We know we have to win if we're going to have a
chance," Alban said. "Michigan knows they're going to
have to win one, too. Hopefully things will work out for
us."
And so, the rivalry between the Wolverines and the
partans takes on added significance this weekend for the
lAichigan State seniors. If they win both games, they will
control their own destiny in the CCHA championship
race. If they lose, they'll have to hope that Michigan fal-
ters or wait for another chance in the playoffs.
"Winning a championship was the goal that my senior
class made for ourselves when we walked into this place
as freshmen," Berens said. "That's tops on our list. We
want to hang a banner from Munn (Ice Arena).
"Michigan is standing in our way and I can't think of a
better team to play against. It's an excellent battle when-
*ver we play against them - especially when the stakes
are this high."
After three years, this could be the Spartans' final
chance at a title.
Mason's next
milestone is
800 victones
By Sharat Raju
Daily Sports Editor
EAST LANSING - If you have 800 of anything, that's a lot.
If you have $800, you can buy a great deal of food, electron-
ic equipment or whatever. If you score 800 on each half of the
SAT, you can gain entrance into virtually any school in the
country.
If you have 800 career victories, you have more victories than
Michigan State hockey coach Ron Mason has.
For now.
Mason, the coaching guru of college hockey, has 799 victo-
ries under his belt - far and away more
than any other coach, active or retired. The ==
next closest is Bemidji State's Bob Peter,
who had 700 entering the season.
The head Spartan can reach the 800-
win milestone with one little victory over
Michigan this weekend. But he knowsa
victory over Michigan really isn't ever
"little."
"It's something the crowd looks for-
ward to, as do the coaches and players,"
Mason said. "It's the highlight game each Mason
year on your home schedule."
As important as this weekend is for both teams and their sea-
sons, there are few things that Mason hasn't seen or hasn't
experienced as a coach. For 32 seasons, Mason has been the
standard of excellence in coaching. On March 12, 1993, Mason
passed former Boston College coach Len Ceglarski with a 6-5
CCHA playoff victory over Kent to become the winningest
coach in college hockey with 674 victories.
A year later - on March 18, 1994 - he became the win-
ningest coach in North America, surpassing Alberta coach
Clare Drake with 698. The list of accolades for the coaching
legend continues: a record 17 NCAA tournament appearances,
four regular season CCHA titles and seven tournament titles
with the Spartans, a 1992 national coach of the year award and
an NCAA championship in 1986.
In recent years, though, Michigan coach Red Berenson has
overshadowed Mason's success. The Wolverines have made
five NCAA tournament appearances in the past six seasons.
While the majority of the 1980s belonged to Mason, the 1990s
See MASON, Page 0A
FILE PHOTO
Michigan State hockey coach Ron Mason can reach the 800-victory plateau by guiding the Spartans to victory in one of their
two games against Michigan this weekend.
Cleaves arrested or
just hours after big victory
EAST LANSING (AP) - Michigan State guard
Mateen Cleaves and forward Andre Hutson were
arrested on alcohol charges early yesterday, hours
after the team's first victory over Michigan in three
years.
Cleaves, 20, and Hutson, 19, were released
Wednesday afternoon on personal recognizance
bonds, East Lansing police Lt. Lewis Muhn said.
Cleaves, a sophomore, was charged with being a
minor in possession of alcohol, refusing a breath test
and a seat belt violation. Hutson was charged with
"zero tolerance" a charge for minors with a blood-
alcohol reading of at least .02 percent. A blood-alco-
hol level of .10 percent is considered legally drunk
in Michigan.
East Lansing police said they were called to a dis-
turbance at an apartment complex around 4:45 a.m.
Muhn said that when police arrived they found
the two players in a car, although he could not say
whether the car was in motion. Muhn said police are
investigating the incident to see if other charges are
warranted. The players have 10 days to appear in 54-
B District Court to answer the charges.
Cleaves, one of 11 finalists for the Oscar
Robertson Award sponsored by the U.S. Basketball
Writers Association and Frontier Communications,
said lie was embarrassed about the incident, saying
he used bad judgment.
"I feel I let my family down, my team down and
MSU down," Cleaves said. "Whatever conse-
quences I have to face from my coach I agree with
them because I'm a leader on the team."
Coach Tom Izzo said the school was still gather-
ing information and had not made any decisions on
what punishments, if any, to give the players.
"I can't tell you how embarrassed I am," Izzo said.
"Based on the facts, there will be some conse-
quences that are appropriate with what happened."
Cleaves and Izzo did not take any questions from
reporters and did not elaborate on the incident. A
spokesperson for the athletic department said that no
team rules were violated and that the players did not
have a curfew after the game.
Terry Denbow, a spokesman for Michigan State,
said players and team officials talk about appropri-
ate behavior often and did so after the Michigan
game.
"The team, the players and the coaching staff were
not given much time to enjoy (the win over
Michigan) and they deserved more' Denbow said.
MARGARE, TMYER/Disy
Michigan State guard Mateen Cleaves was arrested on alcohol charges relating to
a post-game celebration after State's 80-75 victory over Michigan.
I 1
Tough
test?
Call someone
for sympathy.
- m w m m w m= u m