8B -The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 22, 1999
A Sparty Final Four party
There's no tying in
0
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Call Michigan State ugly or
blue-collar if you like. The Spartans also have plen-
ty of heart and more than a few players, and
because of that they're headed to the Final Four.
The top-seeded Spartans, who twice trailed by
13 points early in the game, came back to beat No.
3 seed Kentucky 73-66 yesterday and earn their
first trip to the Final Four in 20 years.
Michigan State plays Duke next Saturday in the
Final Four at St. Petersburg, Fla., while Connecticut
plays Ohio State in the other national semifinal.
Morris Peterson scored 19 points, including six
free throws in the final 30 seconds, and had 10
rebounds. Mateen Cleaves had 1 I assists and 10
points.
A.J. Granger and Andre Hutson scored 14 each
in Michigan State's 22nd straight victory. And
everyone hit the boards to help the Spartans (33-4)
outrebound a Kentucky team that once had a big
edge in that department.
It looked early as though Kentucky (28-9) would
be going to its fourth straight Final Four. But the
shots stopped falling after the defending champi-
ons took leads of 17-4 and 19-6.
Scott Padgett, who had averaged 19 points in the
first three tournament games, was a nonfactor until
hitting two late 3-pointers. And Heshimu Evans
went scoreless after getting 12 points in the first 10
minutes.
Michigan State's first lead, 43-42, didn't come
until Cleaves hit a jumper with 15:45 remaining in
the game. The Spartans trailed 50-46 with just over
-I1 minutes to Play, then held Kentucky to one field
goal in the next six minutes to take a 60-54 lead.
They led by seven twice, the final time 67-60,
and Kentucky got no closer than 69-66 on a Padgett
3-pointer with 18.8 seconds to play. Peterson then
hit both ends of a one-and-one to seal the victory,
and added two more with 5 seconds remaining.
Evans scored nine of Kentucky's first 13 points,
helping the Wildcats run their way to the 17-4 lead
with just over seven minutes played. But he only
had one basket the rest of the half and watched the
final 5:36 after picking up his second foul.
He got his third foul three minutes into the sec-
ond half and his fourth with 6:25 remaining.
Michigan State used 3-point shooting and better
rebounding to right itself after Kentucky's blitz.
The Spartans, who came in averaging four 3-point-
ers per game, were 5-of-11 in the half including
three by Granger. They wound up 7-of-17 from
behind the arc.
Granger, Jason Klein and Cleaves hit consecu-
tive 3s in the final 1:21 to make it a one-point
deficit at halftime.
Michigan State missed 12 of its first 15 shots but
went 10-for-13 after that. The Spartans also stayed
even on the backboards in the final eight minutes of
the half after falling behind 15-7 in that category.,
They finished with a 33-29 advantage.
Michigan State's bench contributed 18 first-half
points. Granger had nine - all on 3-pointers -
and Peterson and scored seven. Kentucky's biggest
contributor off the bench was freshman Tayshaun
Prince, who scored a dozen - three more than his
total for the tournament.
The crowd of 42,519 was a record for an NCAA
regional.
softball
By Stephanie Offen
Daily Sports Writer
Two hours and 20 minutes into the
game, it was time to leave. There was
no finale, no tournament winner, just a
plane to catch.
The Michigan softball team (21-5-1)
won their second straight tournament
yesterday. Well, sort of.
After the eighth inning of the Capitol
Classic in Sacramento, the tenth-
ranked Wolverines and their final-
game opponents, No. 21 Iowa, decided
to call it quits and claim a co-champi-
onship with a, 2-2, tie.
Michigan started off the scoring with
a run in the first inning. Senior
Catherine Davie - who was named to
the all-tournament team - walked
with two out and then stole second. She
was driven home on a double by fresh-
man Stefanie Volpe.
The Hawkeyes tied it up in the third
and took the lead in the top of the sev-
enth. But the Wolverines tied it up at 2-
2 when senior Tracy Conrad hit a sacri-
fice fly with one out to score sopho-
more Kim Bugel.
P PHOTO That score held up for one more
mile inning sending the two teams home co-
champions.
But Michigan already had a chance
to show their Big Ten foe who the top
team in the conference was.
The Wolverines played Iowa
Saturday night in the semifinals of the
is there?
Classic and junior Jamie Gillies
recorded a shutout with the 2-0 victory.
Gillies only gave up four hits against
the Hawkeyes, who had to work their
way back through the losers bracket to
get the chance for the second meeti4
with the Wolverines.
"We showed a lot of improvement
over the weekend," Michigan coach
Carol Hutchins said. "Our defense was
shaky the first day, but we made adjust-
ments and played good softball the rest
of the way."
Michigan started their run through
the championship bracket with an 8-0
victory over Indiana State on Friday
night. Marie Barda improved her
record to 7-1 by pitching her seco
career one-hitter.
The Wolverines then went on to
defeat No. 16 Oregon, 7-3, in the quar-
terfinals. Led by Pam Kosanke, Davie
and Melissa Taylor, Michigan recorded
double digits in the hit column for the
third straight game.
The tournament poll pitted the
Wolverines against Baylor, Southern
Illinois and Portland State in the first
rounds.
Davie's solo homerun provided the
only score in the Wolverines' 1-0 victo-
ry over Baylor. Davie was also the
force behind the 5-4, extra inning win
over Portland State.
Next weekend the Wolverines head
to the Boilermaker Invitational.
AP
Michigan State guard Mateen Cleaves gives a relieved s
after Michigan State beat defending champion Kentucky
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Blue falls short in Texas tourney
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By Geoff Gagnon
Daily Sports Writer
Looking for a bit of redemption this
weekend after its winning streak was
snapped a week ago by Southern
Illinois, the Michigan baseball team
traveled to the Lone Star State to begin
action at the Texas A&M Classic.
But with its play on Friday and
Saturday, the Wolverines were left see-
ing stars - as well as a new losing
skid.
In dropping its eighth game in ten
tries on Saturday, Michigan's record
dipped to 5-9 on the year, with Big Ten
conference play set
week.
to open later this
Michigan managed to make it tough
for Texas A&M Saturday evening, as
the game went to 11 innings before a
two-run homer by the Aggies' Steve
Scarborough gave Michigan its third
loss of the tournament.
After a four-run third inning, the
Aggies were answered by a similar
Michigan outburst in the sixth, as the
Wolverines knotted things up at four
runs apiece. Bobby Scales, Jason
Alcaraz, Brian Besco and Brian Bush
all scored on three Michigan hits
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before strong defense silenced the scor-
ing until the game's second extra
inning.
Michigan's Bobby Korecky got the
start for the Wolverines in Saturday's
nightcap against Texas A&M and saw
his record slip to 1-2 on the season. On
the strength of a 14-hit showing, the
Aggies were able to tally six runs
behind starting pitcher Chance Caple,
who managed to strike out seven en
route to a 6-4 Michigan loss.
The game came on the heels of 6.-2
loss to Nevada-Las Vegaas earlier in the
day, as the Runnin' Rebels posted 10
hits to Michigan's five before handing
starter J.J. Putz his first loss of the year.
Michigan jumped out to an early 2-0
lead, when Scales and Mike Cervenak
advanced on a stolen base and a wild
pitch, respectively, before scoring in
the first.
But Michigan's offense would be
thwarted on every subsequent turn, as
the Rebels used seven hits to collect all
six runs in the game's final inning.
Michigan's chance to come back came
up short in its half of the inning as
Cervanek flied out to rightfield, leaving
the bases jammed.
The win gave the Rebels their second
of the five-game event, moving them to
13-16 on the year. UNLV will look to
take another from-Michigan as the two
teams square off today in the tourna-
ment's final round.
AP PHOO
Duke guard Chris Caraweil and coach Mike Krzyzewskl celebrate after the Blue
Devils clinch their first trip to the Final Four since 1994.
Blue Devils top Temple
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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -
Duke is where everybody expected it to
be this season, and where the Blue
Devils haven't been since 1994 - the
Final Four.
"It's great to be at the level Duke has
been and we're back there again," sopho-
more center Elton Brand said yesterday
after the 85-64 victory over sixth-seeded
Temple in the East Regional final.
The nation's top-ranked team is clos-
ing the decade where it was almost every
year at the start of the 90s.
The Blue Devils (36-1) extended their
school-record winning streak to 31
games and will be making their 12th
Final Four appearance - the eighth
under coach Mike Krzyzewski.
On Saturday, in St. Petersburg, Fla.,
Duke plays Michigan State, which beat
Kentucky 73-66 to win the Midwest
Regional. The Blue Devils beat the
Spartans 73-67 in December.
Duke was in the Final Four from
1990-92 and again in 1994, winning the
national championship in 1991 anj
1992.
"It's been a long time coming and it's
something I haven't experienced," fifth-,
year senior Trajan Langdon said.
"Coming into this game I knew it was
my last chance to go to the Final Four."
Langdon, a second-team All-
America, did something about it with an
impressive shooting display against
Temple's famed matchup zone defense,
going 5-for-6 from 3-point range and
finishing with 23 points.
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