tit, PORTS wES 3V recovers from-- loss, splits weekend By Chris Duprey Daily Sports Writer The Michigan hockey team's reputation as one of the most penalized teams in the CCHA didn't change this weekend, as the Wolverines muddled through an infrac- tion-filled pair of games, defeating Western Michigan 6-3 at home Saturday despite dropping a 4-0 road deci- sion to Ferris State the previous evening. ichigan skaters served a two-game total of 88 min- utes in the penalty box, and four Wolverines earned game disqualifications as Michigan vented its frustra- tions at the unlucky bounces and calls that plagued its weekend. Saturday night's victory over Western Michigan was far from Michigan's prettiest effort, but it accomplished its purpose - to regain some confi- dence for a struggling team heading into a crucial stretch of games. "Coming off last night's game (against Ferris State), *ch was really a low point in the season, I thought the first period was a solid period and the second period was pretty good," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "But then we slipped back into a little of last night's hockey." Dale Rominski had all the right moves for Michigan, scoring two of the Wolverines' first four goals as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead and took full control of the game. The senior would later add Michigan's final goal for the hat trick, as the Broncos never threatened. The always-physical Bobby Hayes contributed with an assist early, but was sent to the lockerroom perma- nently with 1:02 remaining in the second period, having drawn a major-misconduct for high-sticking Western Michigan's Matt Addesa. "I don't like the penalties. The penalties don't help the team," Berenson said, in reference to Hayes' game disqualification. "That was not a good penalty." Aside from Rominski's success, Michigan reserves Krikor Arman, Kevin Magnuson and Bob Gassoff did- n't miss a beat, having been inserted into Michigan's lineup on an emergency basis following the disqualifi- cations of Andrew Merrick, Jeff Jillson and Greg Crozier due to a third-period brawl with Ferris State the previous night. Despite Friday's lopsided score, the Wolverines entered the third period down 1-0 with an excellent chance to scrape out a road win. Michigan logged 16 shots on goal in the second period, and buzzing around the Bulldogs' net, the Wolverines looked ready to reap dividends. Yet Ferris State killed off a Michigan power play to start the final stanza, and made the most of a man- advantage situation of its own, as Brian McCullough's shot deflected past goaltender Josh Blackburn for a demoralizing score and a 2-0 Ferris State lead. The Bulldogs added two more tallies in the third peri- od against a helpless Blackburn, as Michigan seemed to lose focus in the hostile environment of Ewigleben Ice Arena. After Ferris State's fourth goal, Michigan's attention turned away from winning the game, and turned toward winning the fight. Referee Steve Piotrowski's passive style of officiating led to an out-of-control, dangerous- ly physical breed of hockey - all of which culminated with 1:36 left in the contest. Merrick collided with Ferris State goaltender Vince Owen, which set off three sets of fights in the Bulldogs' zone. Crozier and Merrick were each tied up by Ferris State players, while Michigan defenseman Jeff Jillson duked it out with a maskless Owen. When all was sorted out, Piotrowski gave game dis- qualifications to all three Wolverines involved, while the only Bulldog kicked out was defenseman Scott Lewis -an incongruency that wasn't lost on Berenson. "That doesn't seem right," Berenson said. "If Jillson got a DQ, who was he fighting? If Merrick got a DQ, who was he fighting?" Despite the loss, Michigan fell to just two points behind first-place Michigan State in the CCHA race, thanks to the Spartans' tie with Bowling Green on Saturday night. MARGARET MYERS/Daily After a third-period breakdown against Ferris State, Mike Van Ryn and the rest of the Michigan defensive unit clamped down on Western Michigan to earn a 6-3 vic- tory at home. in, on up DANA LINNANE/Daily * Michigan women's basketball team fought hard, but couldn't snap its losing skid against Penn State. Late co-meback isn't enough for Wom-en's hoops By Goof Gagnon Daily Sports Writer Deep in a five-game slump, the Michigan's women's basketball team may be at its darkest point of the season. But coach Sue Guevara said she never lost sight of the flicker of light at the end of the tunnel. And yesterday, as her squad attempted to burrow through what has become a mountain of disappointment, i evara said that things shone a little more brightly - n though her team suffered its sixth loss of the year to No. 20 Penn State, 74-66. "I've always believed that there was a light at the end of the tunnel," Guevara said. "I think that hole is starting to get bigger. It's not like a little dot anymore." Guevara's reaffirmed optimism came, ironically, as she watched her team stumble for the fifth time in as many tries as it was tripped up. With the loss, the Wolverines fell to 1-4 in the Big Ten, while slipping to 9-6 overall in their fifth straight loss, the worst streak in Guevara's ure. Yet despite the fact that with the loss the team plum- metted nearly to the bottom of the conference standings, it was the progess that her squad made Sunday that caught the attention of Guevara. "It's nice to see my old team back," Guevara said of her team that began the season with a school-best nine-game win streak. "I thought we played with a lot of heart, and a lot of emotion, without a lot of players." 2 Indeed, Michigan found itself in a difficult position, even before the opening tip. With freshman guard Heather Oesterle and her 5.4 points per game sidelined th a foot injury and senior guard Ann Lemire suspend- after a team violation, the limited depth of Guevara's roster became an immediate liability as Michigan dressed only eight players. Yet despite being outnumbered, Guevara's team worked to avoid being outplayed and managed to keep things rel- atively close with the Nittany Lions on the strength of several key offensive outbursts. "Three times we were down and made major runs Guevara said. "We made major headway into cutting down that lead and we just could not get over the hump." A key ingredient in each attempt to slash the Penn State advantage was the inspired play of freshman point guard Alayne Ingram, who found her position elevated to a starting role and responded by pouring in 16 points. Leading the Michigan offensive assault, Ingram managed to connect on two-of-five shots from behind the 3-point arc while netting a perfect four free-throw attempts. ut it wa her nlav in marshallinia a nair of second-half Asselin helps Blue buck Ohio State By Josh Kleinbaum Daily Sports Editor No gears could be heard turning at about 1 p.m. in the inner annals of Crisler Arena on Saturday. There was no thud. But, at some point during half- time of Michigan's 84-74 victory over Ohio State (3-2 Big Ten, 13-5 overall), the Michigan basketball team finally clicked into place. Josh Asselin put together the best game of his career, with 22 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks, three assists and a steal. When guards Louis Bullock and Robbie Reid started hitting from the outside at the start of the second half - the Wolverines ) MIchigan 84 (3-2, 9-9) opened the 0* Ohio State 74 half with a 13-2 run,- including three 3-pointers, and shot 58 percent from beyond the arc for the game - Michigan finally had the inside-outside threat that it has sorely lacked since Robert Traylor jumped to the NBA. Thanks to that newfound versatility, and the run at the start of the second half, the Wolverines jumped out to a 12-point lead with 16:04 to go in the game. Over the next four minutes, the Wolverines built the lead to as much as 17 before the Buckeyes started to make a comeback. With 9:41 to play, Ohio State guard Scoonie Penn hit the first of two free throws to cut Michigan's lead to nine. But the Wolverines quickly responded, with Reid hitting a 3-pointer from the right side of the basket. In the next five minutes, Michigan slowly pushed the lead up. With 4:10 to play, Asselin hit a five-foot jumper to put the Wolverines up by 20 and the game out of hand. Four Wolverines ended the day with double-digit points - Asselin's 22 was a career high, Reid had 21, Bullock had 19 and forward Brandon Smith had 13. "All in all, it was a very good effort on our part, See BUCKEYES, Page 58 AP PHOTO Michigan power forward Josh Asselin had a career game. His all-around presence helped the Michigan basketball team run away from formerly-ranked Ohio State, 84-74. Michigan wrestling squad staves off Lehigh, 24-18 'Killer's Row' victories help overcome Brink's absence; Wolverines win rivalry match at home By Michael Shafrir Daily Sports Writer The Michigan wrestling team had a few reasons to be nervous going into Sunday's match against Lehigh. Its biggest one was the absence of heavy- weight Matt Brink. In his place was freshman Art Romence, who routinely wrestles in the 195-pound weight class. "We really can't afford to give up that match at heavyweight, but there is really nothing we can do about it," Michigan coach Dale Bahr said. In the end, though, it was the lightest guys on the team that pulled the Wolverines through, 24-18. The match began at 125 pounds, where senior Chris Viola wrestled to a technical fall against Engineers' freshman, Bruce Kelly. Michigan junior Joe Warren pinned Aaron Paterson in 1:43. "I tried to push the pace of the match," Warren said. "I could tell early on that he didn't want to wrestle me so once I had bro- ken him, I pinned him." Bahr said the team really relies on the first three wrestlers. "I call the first three guys. 'Killer's Row'," Bahr said. "We don't look for them to just get us points, we look for them to get us (more valuable) pins." The Wolverines opened a 17-0 lead before Lehigh came back with three straight wins. No Michigan wrestler scored more than five points during that stretch. "We had three freshman at the first three spots which hurt us," Lehigh coach Greg Strobel said. "But they have some holes in the middle of their lineup and we really took advantage of them." With Michigan leading 17-11, sopho- more Otto Olson, the eighth-ranked When the final buzzer sounded, Olson had defeated Dufresne, 6-0. "It was really fun to watch (Olson)," Strobel said. The best match of the day was between 15th-ranked Andy Hrovat of Michigan, and third-ranked John Van Doren of Lehigh. Although Hrovat led early, Van Doren came back to defeat the Michigan freshman 10-6. "That match was really indicative of how well the teams wrestled today," Strobel said. Frank Lodeserto overwhelmed Lehigh's Rob Rohn 15-3 to clinch the Michigan vic- tory, before Romence lost the heavyweight match 18-7 to Lehigh's Shawn Laughlin, to end the meet. Even though the final score was so close, it may still seem odd to see Michigan wrestling a small liberal arts school from a small town in Pennsylvania. But most wrestling fans know there is "Lehigh's Billy Sheridan and Michigan's Cliff Keen are considered the fathers of col- lege wrestling in this country," Bahr said. Lehigh, which has been ranked as high as No. 14 this year, televises all of its home matches, and a local radio station even sent a broadcaster to Ann Arbor for the match. "This is one of our best and most impor- tant non-conference meets," Bahr said. "We really enjoy going there and they love com- ing here. It's their major sport." Although they weren't hurt by Brink's absence in this meet, if the Wolverines have any hopes for success in their upcoming Big Ten dual meets, they need him back soon. "We're a solid team with Brink," Logan said. "Without him, though, we've got a lot of work to do and we can't make mistakes." Brink had arthroscopic knee surgery Dec. 22 and is expected back for Michigan's next match at Minnesota on Friday. I p r