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Sports desk: 763-2459
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SECTION B
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Michigan State coach Tom Izzo and senior Andr
Ca
VIichigan Sta
By Dan Williams
Daily Sports Editor
EAST LANSING - It wasn't an embar-
rassment nor was it a castration. But
Michigan's seventh consecutive loss to
Michigan State, a 78-57 defeat in the Bres-
*n Center, repre-
sents the disparity
that has grown MICHIGAN 57
between the two MICHIGAN ST. 78
programs.
"We played a
very good team on their home floor,"
Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe said. "I
thought our guys played solid .. we didn't
quit."
In the Big Ten season finale, Michigan
jtate (13-3 Big Ten, 24-3 overall) rode a
41-23 rebounding advantage to clinch at
least a share of its fourth consecutive Big
Ten title.
"You have to give credit to Michigan,"
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.
"Everyone thought they would be blown
off the floor, and there was no way that was
going to happen."
After a confetti-doused post-game cele-
AP PHOTO
Icers fall at
Munn 3-1;
State takes
CCHA title
FEB. 24:
MICHIGAN 5, LAKE SUPERIOR 2
MICHIGAN STATE 3, MICHIGAN 1
By Ryan C. Moloney
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - For the third time
this season, the Michigan State hockey team
proved too strong, too explosive, too smart
and finally, too good for its counterparts from
Michigan.
The Spartans beat the Wolverines 3-1 on
Thursday night at Munn Ice Arena - ironic
because it gave the Spartans a 3-1 series
advantage over Michigan for the season.
On Saturday, Feb. 27, Michigan beat Lake
Superior 5-2, setting up a must-win scenario
for the Wolverines against Michigan State in
order to win second place in the CCHA.
The loss against the Spartans, however, put
Michigan at a 35-point tie with Miami for the
second spot by the end of the weekend.
Sporting more conference wins, the Red-
Hawks won the tiebreaker, knocking the
Wolverines down to the third seed in the
CCHA playoffs.
Miami was hardly an afterthought until the
last weekend of the season - while the
Wolverines could only muster one win in
their final six games, the RedHawks won
their final three contests and nine of their final
12 games.
As the Michigan State team paraded
around the ice with the CCHA regular season
trophy to a chorus of green and white faithful,
Michigan senior Scott Matzka pondered what
went wrong in the visiting tunnel.
"It's disappointing -- we wanted to go out
there and put up a better effort, and we played
an alright game,' he said. "But it's the same
old, same old against these guys, you make
one mistake and they score
"It's tough to come back from that."
In a scoreless first period, both Michigan
and Michigan State played physical, defen-
sive hockey with the Spartans racking up
three or four quality scoring chances.
Michigan's defense cleared the front of the
net to give goalie Josh Blackburn a clean look
at point shots and wing blasts, though the
junior netminder had to make golden saves
on drives from Andrew Hutchinson and Joe
Markusen in the early going.
See SPARTANS, Page 4B
e Hutson (right) celebrate the Spartans' fourth straight Big Ten title and 78-57 win over Michigan.
te handles cagers, secures Big Ten crown
bration, the Spartans now turn their atten-
tion to the Big Ten Tournament, where they
are two-time defending champions, and the
NCAA Tournament, where they hope to
repeat as national champions.
Michigan (4-12, 10-17) is locked into the
10th seed at the March 8-11 conference
tournament in Chicago. It will have to win
the tournament outright to earn any post-
season action. The Wolverines will face
seventh-seeded Iowa, which it beat both
times in the regular season.
"We came out here and competed as hard
as we could," freshman center Josh Moore
said. "We're walking out of the Breslin
Center with a moral victory and that's what
it's about. We can walk out of here disap-
pointed that we lost, but with our heads
held up. I can't say the same about after we
lost at Crisler.
"We've got a lot of positive vibes going
into the Iowa game. We feel comfortable
playing them for a third time."
Michigan State never trailed in the Jan.
30 meeting at Michigan, which the Spar-
tans won 91-64. But in Saturday's contest,
the Wolverines jumped out to a 6-2 lead,
facing Michigan State's five seniors in their
final home game.
But when Izzo brought in sophomore
Jason Richardson and freshmen Zach Ran-
dolph and Jason Taylor, the Spartans grad-
ually pulled away. They opened up a 42-27
halftime lead and began the second half on
a 12-2 run.
"I think the difference in the game was
the first minute of the second half," Izzo
said.
The Spartans rolled to victory despite
receiving just a six-point night on 2-of-11
shooting from their senior captain, Charlie
Bell.
Michigan sophomore LaVell Blanchard
also had one of his worst outings of the
year, scoring five points on 2-of-l1 shoot-
ing. But freshman Bernard Robinson fin-
ished with a fine performance, scoring
efficiently off of the drive. Robinson led
Michigan with 19 points.
From beginning to end in the Big Ten
season, the NCAA crackdown on rough
play seemed to thwart Michigan. Both Josh
Moore and Josh Asselin fouled out of the
game, and Chris Young finished with four
fouls. Ellerbe, who has criticized the offi-
cials for inconsistency all season, was
again displeased.
"I thought initially the game was going
to be called a little touchy; then it got phys-
ical," Ellerbe said. "I didn't think it was
consistent.
"We don't have that kind of depth on our
front line to have three fouls on three guys
(in the first half)."
As Michigan State players reentered the
lockerroom following the game, donning
championship shirts and hats, pity for their
in-state foes was distant from their minds.
"I can't really feel bad for them," Michi-
gan sophomore Jason Richardson said. "I
feel that they're going through a tough
time. I'd tell them to keep their heads up
and things will be all right."
But when the final buzzer sounded and
Michigan State fans rushed the floor, many
of Michigan's players caught whiff of the
celebration and developed a taste for it.
"As I walked out I just kind of glanced
around, and it's burned into my memory.
That's going to be my motivation for the
next eight months," Michigan junior Chris
Young said.
Inside: More basketball coverage-
Page 3A
Blue loses in semis
to Purdue, 74-5 5
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL GRAND RAPIDS
By Jeff Phillips
Daily Sports Writer
GRAND RAPIDS - After a confi-
dence-building win against Penn State on
Friday, the Michigan women's basketball
team (10-6 Big Ten, 18-11 overall) came
crashing down Saturday by falling to run-
ner-up and No. 1-seed Purdue 74-55 in the
Big Ten Tournament.
Ohe Wolverines got to within 13 of the
Bolermakers with just under five min-
utes remaining, but were unable to get
any closer as LeeAnn Bies fouled out just
seconds later, leaving forward Raina
Goodlow alone down low. Freshman Jen-
nifer Smith left the gamer earlier with an
ankle injury.
Purdue's stifling defense took care of the
rest of the Wolverines.
hey did a really nice job and they
w e very, very aggressive (on defense),"
Michigan coach Sue Guevara said. "They
made it very difficult for us to get our
shots."
The Boilermakers pressured the Wolver-
ines up and down the floor for the entire
game, forcing 16 turnovers - many of
rebounds and assists.
In addition, the rebounding margin of 13
was Michigan's second worst of the sea-
son. Its worst came at home against the
Boilermakers on Dec. 30 with a difference
of 18.
"We needed to box out and that is some-
thing we didn't do well today," Goodlow
said.
Purdue essentially put Michigan out of
the game in the first half. The Wolverines
were up by one when the Boilermakers
went on a 24-to-8 run in the final 10 min-
utes to end the half. Leading scorer and
Big Ten Player of the Year Katie Douglas
scored seven points in just 1:30 before the
break. Douglas finished with 14 in the half
and 18 for the game.
"She does a good job of lulling you into
a false perception that you are doing a
good job on her (defensively)," Guevara
said.
Douglas was helped by center Camille
Cooper, who scored 16 points and grabbed
a game-high 14 rebounds, 12 of which
came in the first half.
"She never brings it down (below her
shoulders) and she has such long arms it is
Grapplers
get fourth
in Big Ten
WRESTLING BInTEN EVANSTON
TOURNAMENT
By NathanU nsley
Daily Sports Writer
EVANSTON - The phrase "Best in
the Land" appears above the conference
logo on the Big Ten Tournament banner.
After a 298-match gauntlet packed
into two days, it is easy to see why.
A dazzling array of upsets, near-
misses and buzzer-beating takedowns
shook up the tournament.
Many unseeded wrestlers will travel
to the NCAAs next weekend, while
others will stay at home wondering
what might have been.
"That's the way this tournament
goes," Northwestern coach Tim
Cysewski said. "The Big Ten will
leave some good kids home."
The Michigan wrestling team is well
aware of that after finishing fourth
overall. The team was hoping to claim
one of the top three positions.
"We didn't accomplish all of our
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