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Last-second shot eliminates Michigan
By Joshua Isaac Borkin
Daily Sports Writer
They faced every type of situation this season. The
Wolverines experienced winning streaks, losing
streaks, blowouts, and upsets. But yesterday they lost on
a buzzer beater, one sce-
nario they had never faced MICHIGAN ST. 69
this season.
The Michigan women's . MICHIGAN 68
b etball team watched its
s on come to an end in the Women's National
Invitation Tournament when Michigan State's Becky
Cummings put back an offensive rebound to win the
game for the Spartans 69-68.
"It's hard when you lose," -Michigan coach Sue
Guevara said. "Buts its even harder when you lose on a
buzzer beater."
Michigan State won the season series 2-1. The
Spartans won the last regular-season contest between
the two at home. Yesterday's game would have been
played in East Lansing if a monster truck rally had not
already been scheduled at the Breslin Center.
The first half was extremely close. The pace of the
game was fast and the transition game caused both
clubs to turn over the ball nearly 10 times in the half.
Michigan guard Stacey Thomas, coming off a career
game at Western Michigan Thursday night, came out
firing in the opening minutes. Thomas shot 5-for-10
from the field in the first half and was 3-for-4 from
three point range.
In the first half, Michigan played well offensively,
but the quickness of Michigan State point guard
Maxann Reese caught Michigan off guard and its tran-
sition defense suffered as a result.
Early on, Michigan was able to hold Michigan State's
Kristen Rasmussen in check. Rasmussen-who averaged
15.4 points this season was held to six points in the first
half. Not only was Rasmussen contained, but
Michigan's forwards, Ruth Kipping and Raina
Goodlow combined for 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
"We worked hard on getting the ball inside," Guevara
said. "And we did it successfully, and in the process got
their players in foul trouble."
Michigan went into the half with a 38-34 lead, and
was shooting better than Michigan State from the field,
the line and the three point arc. But Michigan was out-
rebounded 25-18, which allowed the Spartans several
second-chance opportunities.
"We missed a lot of easy layups"Guevara said. "And
we let them have a lot of second chance opportunities."
Though Michigan took a lead into the half, their
inability to capture rebounds would ultimately attribute
to their last second loss.
See OUSTED, Page 58
LOUIS 804
Even though Raina Goodlow scored a doubledouble (18 points and 10 rebounds)
Michigan's women's basketball team bowed out of the WNIT yesterday 6968.
gymnats hit 230
Omar in victory
BY oaw Dlngerso
ily Sports Writer
Senior Day often times brings out the best in teams, as they
want their seniors to go out on a good note. The Michigan
men's gymnastics team only has one senior this year, but the
tl performed its best anyway.
,lichigan defeated Michigan State 230.4-229.3 yesterday at
Cliff Keen Arena. Both teams recorded their best score of the
year.
The Wolverines, who last weekend defeated No. 1 Penn
State, became only the second team this year to score over 230,
joining Ohio State.
The Spartans, who came in ranked No. 7, started the meet
extremely strong. They led after two rotations, and only scored
under 38 on one event, the horizontal bar.
"We could have won this meet" Michigan State head coach
1O Atkinson said. "We should have won this week."
Michigan State didn't win though, thanks to a strong finish
by the Wolverines.
On the third rotation, Michigan scored a 39.1 on the still
rings to grab the lead away from Michigan State. Michigan
closed with two strong scores on the horizontal bar and the par-
allel bars.
dg ghti
ng
chance
htaFalcons, second-
game fracas can'
stopM'hockey
By David Den Herder
Daily Sports Writer
As the Michigan hockey team took the ice Friday night,
there were plenty of naysayers.
Some questioned which Michigan offense would show up
for the playoffs. Some questioned whether the Wolverines
would be able to handle Bowling Green's top-ranked power
play. Some questioned how freshman goalie Josh Blackburn
would perform under pressure.
- Some even trumpeted Michigan's first-round series as the
most likely place for an upset in the CCHA Tournament.
The defending NCAA Champions would have none of
. that.
In brazing form reminiscent of their early-season tear, the
Wolverines disposed of seventh-seeded Bowling Green in
two games, whipping the Yost faithful into an emotional fren-
"I said we were ready for the playoffs," Michigan coach
Red Berenson said after the series. "I think we showed it this
weekend.'
Michigan earned the right to advance in the CCHA
Tournament Saturday night after pummeling the Falcons in a
9-3 slugfest. The Wolverines' offensive effort was impressive,
led by top line center Bobby "Maize" Hayes.
The senior had two goals Saturday night and one on Friday,
to step to the forefront of Michigan's offensive production in
the young postseason
"Hayes is a great player when you see him at his best -
and you saw him at his best this weekend," Berenson said of
his assistant captain.
Arguably, maize-and-blue fans saw the Michigan offense at
its best as well. Regular-season points leader Mike Comrie
had a goal and three assists in the series, while Josh Langfeld
scored twice on Saturday. Greg Crozier, Mike Van Ryn and
Geoff Koch also scored for the Wolverines in the blowout.
Not to be outdone, Michigan goaltender Josh Blackburn
saved 21 of 24 shots in Saturday's contest, before yielding to
Kevin O'Malley, who closed out the game with two saves.
"There's a lot more riding on this;' said Blackburn after his
first playoff series at Michigan. "Sure, technically it's just
another game, but it feels different. It feels a little more spe-
cial."
From the drop of the puck on Friday, the Wolverines played
as though their season was riding on the series.
And very early in the first period, a pensive Yost crowd
watched Bowling Green's Craig Desjarlais score on a feed
from Doug Schueller. But instead of buying into a 'here we
MARGARET MYERS/Daily go again' pitch, the Wolverines responded.
key team didn't let Bowling Green push them around. The Wolverines deflected the Dale Rominski took a Dave Huntzicker pass and went
s en route to a series sweep. They'll meet Ohio State in the CCHA semifinals. See SWEEP, Page 7B
ght; remember Michigan' efort istead
n Toman helped the Michigan gymnastics team tum the
on rival Michigan State yesterday at Cliff Keen Arena.
w nen leave
Keen with Victory
- Stephen Rom
Sports Writer
Prior to Saturday's meet against Rutgers and UCLA,
Michigan women's gymnastics coach Bev Plocki put her
team in quite an unenviable position.
a The Wolverines were expected to match their highest
team score of the season - a tally of 197.025 amassed
only a week earlier in a victory over Arizona. This was to
ensure that the score would be factored into their rank-
ing, as all teams have to drop their top performance.
By the time Michigan reached its final event, the floor
exercise, they needed just 47.125 points to meet Plocki's
goal. Things looked good for Michigan, because in nine of
t 10 previous meets this season, the Wolverines scored
at least a 49.000.
Make that 10 of l meets.
The Wolverines put on a dazzling floorshow for the
1,427 fans in attendance at Cliff Keen Arena and earned a
score of 49.500.
This was about as dramatic as the contest became for
No. 6 Michigan, as it won the meet rather handily, 197.400
to 195.700 over No. 17 UCLA. Finishing in third place
was Rutgers, who tallied a final score of 189.075.
the Scarlet Knights were excited and enthusiastic-
t ughout the competition, but were simply overmatched
by their top-ranked opponents. To their credit, they did
show excellent sportsmanship, even clapping as the
Wolverines were announced during introductions.
The 1997 national champion Bruins had no plans of
encouraging the Wolverines. What they did plan on doing
was everything they could to make sure Michigan would
Sean Rltchlin and the Michigan hoc
Falcons' slapshots and their punche
Forget the
M
t must have been the worst feeling for Dave
Huntzicker to step into that box on Friday night.
And given Bowling Green's dangerous power play,
taking an interference penalty with just 7:40 remaining
in a 2-2 playoff game was the last
thing he wanted to do.
But the Michigan penalty killers
did their job, and Huntzicker left
the box, ready to help out defen-
sively, or to head to the bench for a
change.
Instead, Bobby Hayes went
around his back with a long cross- CHRIS
ice pass, right on the tape to aD
streaking Huntzicker, who had DUPREY
made his way behind the Bowling Dupes
Green defense. SCOOP
From there, it was the sopho-
more defenseman - an unlikely candidate to have a
potential game-winning breakaway - fooling goal-
tender Mike Savard with the fake and tucking it home.
Score one for Huntz.
The Wolverines had seized the lead. And they would
never look back.
Yost Ice Arena electrified the moment the red light
._ _ , . . - A , , i e ,
will ever forget. The reality of an frustratingly incon-
sistent Michigan team, for a moment, was suspended in
favor of pure emotion. The series, whether anyone in
the arena realized it at the time, had effectively been
decided on that very play.
The Falcons never recovered from that onrush of
home-ice momentum. Michigan carried it over to
Saturday night, scoring nine goals for the second time
in three weeks to squash the orange.
Rather than calling upon intangibles like heart and
courage, though, the Wolverines won game two with
cold-blooded execution, and the sharpshooting skill
they've been searching for all season long.
Nothing kept Michigan down. When the puck took a
weird carom off the side glass and bounced into a
vacated Michigan net for the second freak time this
season, the Wolverines didn't panic. They just waited
patiently for their next opportunity, and made no mis-
take about finding the back of the net.
Yet Bowling Green wouldn't let the Wolverines' deft
shooting touch be the story of the game. Employing a
strategy of, 'If you can't win the game, win the fight
instead,' the Falcons literally jumped Michigan with.
2:51 to play in the game's final period..
With its season just about over, Bowling Green
- 1..-.A -.,+.hurn *h . i ra to -v,' v * i- t nthing - its
program's respectability. And the Falcons did a much
better job of throwing their class out the window than
they did controlling Michigan's big guns, holding
leads, or playing defense.
Unfortunately for the image of the league, Buddy
Powers' squad tried to drag Michigan into the mud,
instigating a string of fights with Wolverines who had
the option of either taking a pounding, or fighting back
and receiving game disqualifications and suspensions
for this weekend's semifinal against Ohio State. Some
choice that was.
"Their team showed no class tonight," Hayes said.
"That's pretty much all I can say."
After the game, neither Powers nor top-line center
Adam Edinger would take up the opportunity to defend
Bowling Green's actions. Both just said they'd "rather
not talk about it."
Maybe forgetting the fight ever occurred is a good
idea, anyway. The lasting memory of this series won't
be the brawl. It'll be the breakout weekend that Hayes
had, Huntzicker's game-winner, orthe series where
Michigan finally took a stand and backed up its rank-
ing, and its reputation.
After all, who's going to the Joe?
- Chris Duprey can be reached via e-mail at
cdunrevy(aumich. edu.
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