8B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - February 15, 1999 Quintet rolls dice in Vegas 'M' tennis drops two By Dan Dingerson Daily Sports Writer Five members of the Michigan men's gymnas- tics team had a Vegas vacation this weekend. But they didn't win big. Michigan coach Kurt Golder took five of his gymnasts to Las Vegas this weekend for the Winter Cup Challenge, an event that is used to determine who will compose various national teams. Michigan sent sophomore co-captain Justin Toman, junior Ethan Johnson and three freshmen - Daniel Diaz-Luong, Scott Vetere and Josh Levin. The freshmen were competing in the all-around competition while Toman and Johnson were spe- cializing in individual events. Toman was kept off of the still rings because of an arm injury, but com- peted in the other five events. Johnson only per- formed on still rings. The all-around event consisted of two days of competition. The opening day featured 77 gym- nasts competing for the top 36 positions to advance to the second round. All three Wolverines competing qualified for the second day of compe- tition, although some almost didn't. Diaz-Luong was 13th at the end of the first day with a 51.5, Vetere was 33rd and Levin qualified for the last spot, finishing 36th. The scores from the first round were erased for the second day of competition, and the gymnasts started anew. Diaz-Luong finished 18th overall, scoring a 51.05. Although he didn't win the all-around, he nearly won the vault, finishing second with a score of 9.5. His second-place finish was the highest fin- ish for any Wolverine. Vetere placed 25th in the all-around with a 49.75. He also excelled in the vault, scoring 9.45, leaving him in third place behind Diaz-Luong. Levin scored a 49.7, leaving him 26th in the all- around. His performance was led by his strongest event, the pommel horse, but was more accurately characterized by consistency. Toman also performed consistently on the first day of competition, led by his fourth-place finish on the parallel bar. His performances on the other five events were strong enough that an average performance on the still rings - would have placed him in the top 10 in the all-around. Particularly disappointing for Toman is that the still rings are considered his strongest event. Johnson rounded out the contingent of Wolverines competing, scoring a 7.75 on the still rings. His performance was sub-par, and left him far behind the top competitors on the rings. Former Buckeye Blaine Wilson won the all- around competition with a score of 56.4, keeping him ahead of Jason Gatson, who scored 55.8 to take second place. Wilson has been the all-around national champion for the last three years, an unprecedented string in recent years. By Adam J. Falkauff For The Daily The No. 49 Michigan women's tennis team traveled south this past weekend to face two nationally-ranked oppo- nents - Tennessee, ranked No. 26 and Kentucky ranked No. 23. Michigan seemed prepared for the tough match it was about to encounter. But in the end, Tennessee had too much talent and experience. The Wolverines got blanked 9-0 on Sunday. The Wolverines started off their dual- match season with a convincing win over Western Michigan, but their sea- son soon withered when Michigan headed south, to Lexington, with hopes of upsetting Kentucky. The Wolverines came up on the short end of the stick, at the Boone Indoor Tennis Center, as they were trounced 8-1 by a strong Kentucky team. The Wildcats' domination showed in singles play as junior Danielle Lund, sophomores Szandra Fuzesi and Alison Sinclair and freshman Jen Vaughn all lost in straight sets. Lund may now tumble from her No. 28 ranking in the country, after losing to three lower-ranked players. Lund's cold streak continues as she is still looking to tally her first win of the season and her 60th of her career. She now rests at 0-3 for this season, in contrast to her 59-32 career record. Junior Brooke Hart started her match against Massoumeh Emami strong, net- ting the first set 6-4. But Hart dropped the second set by the same margin and deteriorated in the third and decisive set suffering a 6-0 loss. The defeat dropped Hart to 5-4 on the season. The only bright spot for the Wolverines came from senior Jen Boylan who tallied a straight-set victo- ry (7-5, 6-3) over the Wildcats' hottest player, Shannon Stafford, and Kentucky's two-match winning streak. In doubles play, the Wolverines did- n't fare well either. The team of Hart and Lund couldn't stop Kentucky's No. I doubles team, falling 8-2. Adding to the Wolverines' woes, the duo of Boylan and Fuzesi also dropped their match 8-5. Sinclair and Vaughn mustered the greatest opposition to the Wildcats, barely edged out, 9-7 in a competitive match that took a total of 16 games to complete. ,. ". A .I NATHAN RUFFER/Daily Five members of the Michigan men's gymnastics team com- peted in the Winter Cup Challenge in Las Vegas this weekend. SPORTS. WE NICS. GYMNASTICS* State keeps rolling in Big Ten; Purdue beats Illinois * PRINTING * LOWEST PRICES! HIGHEST QUALITY! * FASTEST SER VICE! U * 1002 PONTIAC TR. U 994-1367 ammoomg MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Mateen Cleaves hit a driving layup with 1.2 seconds left and No. 5 Michigan State rallied to win its school-record I1th straight Big Ten game, 84-82 over No. 22 Minnesota on Saturday night. Cleaves finished with 23 points and helped the Spartans wipe out a 10- point deficit in the final seven minutes. After Minnesota's Terrance Simmons made a tying 3-pointer with eight seconds remaining, Cleaves took the inbounds pass and drove the length of the court. Cleaves scored in traffic to stun the Golden Gophers, who desperately needed a win to bolster their chances of qualifying for the NCAA tourna- ment. Morris Peterson scored 20 points for the Spartans (11-1 Big Ten, 22-4 over- all), including eight in the final 5:16 to spark Michigan State's rally. Big Ten scoring leader Quincy Lewis scored 29 points for Minnesota (5-7, 14-8), which has lost three straight and four of five. Charlie Bell dunked on a breakaway to make it 82-79 with 18 seconds left, but Simmons answered with a 3-point- er to tie it 10 seconds later, bringing the already delirious crowd to its feet. But Cleaves, last year's Big Ten play- er of the year, silenced them with his full-court drive, capping his second- highest scoring game of the season. No. 21 PURDUE 63, ILLINOIS 56 Illinois coach Lon Kruger called it a game d "streaks and stretches." But while Kruger's team had runs of 10-0 and 17-0, No. 21 Purdue had a streak when it really counted - hitting all eight free throw attempts in the last three minutes to beat Illinois 63-56 Saturday. The victory was the first time all season the Boilermakers (6-5, 18-7) have won back-to-back games in the conference - something that made coach Gene Keady very pleased. "It's the first Saturday, I think since Christmas, that I'm going to be able to go home and enjoy seeing my wife and not have to worry about the next morn- ing's papers saying something negative about the way I coach. Hah," Keady laughed. "Is that beautiful or what?" Jaraan Cornell scored a career-high 30 points - including three crucial 3- pointers within three minutes in the second half - to lead Purdue. No. 17 INDIANA 69, NORTHWESTERN 62 (0T) After the 17th-ranked Hoosiers pitched a shutout in overtime to beat the Wildcats 69-62, Indiana coach Bob Knight wanted O'Neill to know he did- n't appreciate some of the chants res- onating from the bleachers at the end of the floor. O'Neill, combustible in his own right, didn't appreciate it and had to be separated from his counterpart, an ugly ending to an emotional game. Less than an hour after the game, the two met on a side practice court, sat togeth- er under a basket and talked. "I'm going to fight Knight at noon tomorrow over in Bloomington," joked O'Neill. But it wasn't funny when it first happened. The loss was tough enough for Northwestern, battling for a first- ever bid to the NCAA tournament. Knight said he approached O'Neill to tell him he didn't like the crowd's behavior and that set things off. "Kevin said, 'I have no control over it,' and I said, 'I know that,",' Knight related. Indiana's collapsing zone defense in the second half was the difference because it took 6-foot-IlI Northwestern center Evan Eschmeyer out of the game. Eschmeyer, averaging 20.5 points, was held to just 12 before fouling out in overtime. He managed only two points and two shots in the second half. Little-used used Lynn Washington's only basket gave Indiana (6-6, 19-8) the lead at 64-62 in overtime. A.J. Guyton sealed the win with four free throws, capping his 22-point perfor- mance. No. 15 WIsCONSIN 73, PENN STATE 63 First, the Wisconsin football team had its winningest season in a century- plus of competition. Now, it's the bas- ketball team's turn. Wisconsin got 16 points from Mark Vershaw and 10 in the final three min- utes from fellow sub Charlie Wills as the 15th-ranked Badgers beat Penn State 73-63 Saturday night for a school-record 21st victory. "I've coached a lot of teams over 34 years and I evaluate each of them on one standard, and that is how close each comes to its potential," Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett said. "I've had a lot of teams that have played close to their potential. This one goes at the top of the list because of the competition. "It's remarkable that they have con- sistently met the opposition and played with the shortcomings we have. That's a tribute to these kids because I don't do anything different." The Badgers are essentially the same team that labored through a 12-19 sea- son last year, except for a deeper bench. AP PHOTO Minnesota's NCAA Tournament hopes would have risen significantly if they had beaten Michigan State Saturday. But the Spartans edged the Gophers, 84-82, placing Minnesota on the tournament bubble. And that bench scored 41 points Saturday night, including 16 by Vershaw and 14 by Wills. Sean Mason added 15 points for the Badgers (9-4, 21-5). But the Nittany Lions (2-10, 10-12) trailed just 63-59 with two minutes left after Greg Grays' two foul shots. Dan Earl, who had 15 points, scored eight straight points to rally Penn State. Wills re-established the Badgers' momentum with an 18-foot jumper with 1:18 left that made it 65-59. He then hit all six of his foul shots in the final 43 seconds. In 101 years of basketball, Wisconsin has just three 20-win sea- sons, in 1915-16 and in 1940-41, when the Badgers won their only NCAA championship. "I know it's something special to the state and the university," sophomore guard Mike Kelley said. "As time goes on it will probably be even more sig- nificant." No.13 OHIo STATE 73, No.19 IOWA 69 Normally, a team that gets outre- bounded by 11, shoots 38 percent from the field and misses 12 of 30 free throws is going to lose. But if it has two guards like Scoonie Penn and Michael Redd, anything can happen. It did Saturday night, when Penn scored 24 of his 27 points in the second half and Redd added 22 points to ra 13th-ranked Ohio State to a 73-69 viW tory over No. 19 Iowa for the Buckeyes fourth straight.win. "Penn and Redd, they have such good skills. They can shoot from out- side or drive on you. And they are so quick," Iowa coach Tom Davis said. Penn and Redd combined to scored 32 of their team's last 37 points, which Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien said was by design. "This game shows that we have two premier guards in Michael Redd and Scoonie Penn," O'Brien said. "We decided to let Redd and Penn go with it and carry the team with six minutes to go in the game. They made some plays and some good passes." The Hawkeyes pounded Ohio State on the backboards by a 48-37 margin and enjoyed a 10-point lead about six minutes into the second half but hurt themselves with even worse free thro shooting than Ohio State. Penn said it didn't look good for the Buckeyes, but they refused to fold. "We kept our composure and we kept working hard and eventually got back into the game," he said. "I don't know if there was any particular turn- ing point, just the fact that we stayed after it and kept playing hard the whole game." Ak Gambling with Global Climate Change? Stephen Schaneider Earth Systems Scientist and Climate Change Guru I STOP GAMBLING AND START INVESTING PM@ ' 0 0888-46868257) CALL FOR FREE TRIAL OFFER oIwDOoNTWI DNT A j ;P On "Sustainable Climate" MONDAY, February 15 at 4pm The U of M Business School's Hale Auditorium. Free and Open to the Public. White House Policy Advisor and Winner of a MacArthur Fellowship for his ability to integrate and interpret the results of global climate research. Frequent contributor to print and broadcast media on climate and environmental issues, including Nightline, Dateline, Tonight Show, ect. Author of over 200 scientific publications and 120 opinion articles in the popular press. 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