0~#' RT.S },go.C30 N Sports desk: 763-2459 sportsdesk@umich.edu SECTION B I IMP. ''O '*'O ~A . I 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 i :~ss~.j I I ~ I