PORTS inichigandcily.comlsports sportsdesk@umieh.edu THURSDAY JANUARY, 10 2002 5A Gophers golden from the field to give Blue first Big Ten loss JOE SMITH By Steve Jackmna Daily Sports Writer MINNEAPOLIS - It seemed like the home team couldn't miss a shot if it tried. The Michigan basketball team forced 23 turnovers, but that wasn't enough, as the Gophers shot their way to a 90-82 win. One statistic told the * MICHIGAN 82 whole story: The Wolver- ines allowed their opponent & MINNESOTA 90 to shoot 81.8 percent (18- 22) from the field in the second half. How can any- one put together an offensive showing like that? "Coaching. All coaching," said Minnesota coach Dan Monson, whose team scored 44 points in the paint. "Seriously, we got good shots; we didn't settle for the long jumper." Michigan senior Chris Young offered a different reason: "We just didn't play any type of defense at all in the second half. It was that simple." Jerry Holman gave the Gophers a huge lift off the bench with 12 points and three blocks, but the real difference-maker was point guard Kevin Burleson. Burleson shared the team lead in scoring with Dusty Rychart, posting a season-high 19 points after enter- ing the game averaging just 5.8 points per game. 'M' out to i1pro' m Indiaa remat By Dot iter Daily Sot rtr LaVell Blanchard didn't miss a shot until 11:21 remained in the game, scoring 17 points in a losing effort. Bernard Robinson led the team with 19 points. "I thought Bernard did a good job on the whole," Amaker said. "Anytime he is attacking, I love his shots. The only thing that really concerned me about his game tonight was the (six) turnovers." Michigan held a slim lead for three-fourths of the game. The Wolverines drew five offensive fouls in the first half and picked up 15 steals overall. "I can't remember a game where a team had that many steals," Amaker said. Despite allowing Minnesota to shoot better than 60 percent in the first half, the Wolverines took a 41- 38 lead into the lockerroom. After Robinson com- pleted a fast-break dunk with 11 minutes left, the Michigan offense went into hibernation. After a cou- ple of wild shots and turnovers, Michigan found itself staring at a 14-point deficit (76-62). 'But Michigan mounted a late rally to bring the score to 84-80 with one minute left to play. Freshman guard Dommanic Ingerson was instrumental in reviving the offense, hitting three treys in a two-and- a-half-minute span. But Kerwin Fleming put the dagger in the Wolver- ines back, hitting a long 3-pointer early in the posses- sion to extend the Gophers' lead to seven points. Accused 'hockey dad' AP PHOTO Bernard Robinson backs in on Kerwin Fleming. The sophomore scored a game-high 19 points. Amaker was pleased with the effort that his young team showed by fighting back in such a hostile envi- ronment, but Blanchard could only feel frustration. "Nice comebacks don't mean anything when you don't win," Blanchard said. For extended coverage of last night's game, go online to michigandaily.com/sports' To begin last season, the Michigan women's track team tied Indiana to start the season. The tie was a victory of sorts for Michigan because Indiana had won the Big Ten title the previous year. But Indiana coach Randy Heisler did not see last year's result in the same light. On the Indiana athletic website, Heisler is quoted as saying "last season, we didn't win and we didn't lose. We tied, and that's terrible." Michigan assistant coach Anne Takacs said she and the Michigan team did not see the tie as a problem. "Tying is not terrible. Losing is worse," Takacs said. "We obviously want to win. If we win, it could take the wind out of their sails heading into the Big Ten season. If we beat them, it stings more." The Wolverines will look to continue their hot start in Saturday's rematch against the Hoosiers. Michigan was successful this past weekend, "nning J3 of 15 events in its first meet of the year. This meet will mark the start of Indiana's season. * yWen the teams meet, at theIarry Gladstein Fieldhouse in this heated conference clash, it will mark the seventh time since 1990 that the two teams have battled in a dual meet within the first two meets of the year. Last season, the Wolverines and Hoosiers deadlocked at 81 points. Michigan may find a slight advantage this weekend from the scoring of the meet - it will be international scoring. This means only the top two competitors from each team in each event will score; thus, the teams are forced to have two competitors finish in every event. In this manner each event becomes more competitive making the meet's scoring tighter. Therefore, teams cannot put all their best athletes in one event Historically in the conference, there are teams that can be seen as just distance teams, such as Wisconsin or Illi- nois. Michigan has been much more balanced, having many successful competitors in each event. This might be to Michigan's advantage. "If an event already has three or four good entries, at Michigan we can move them to other events, and in that way we become more diverse through training," Takacs said. Takacs believes that her Wolverines might be better this year than in years past. "Our second performers in all events have stepped up," Takacs said. "Our field events have improved, and we have more jumpers. Overall we have more to offer than last year." Michigan is led by April Phillips, who reached a new personal best last weekend by throwing the shot-put 52 feet and 4 inches. That ranks fourth in the nation currently and would land her a spot at the NCAA Championships in March. Senior Nicole DeNamur competes in the high jump, and can set a good tone for the season with jumps of five feet and eight inches or better. Freshmen Sharifa Jones will make an impact in hurdles, sprints and the long jump. "We have a good team. We need to keep getting better and we need people to come to our home meets," Takacs said. With a crucial meet in Indiana on the horizon, the team is looking to validate its belief that they are one of the best in the Big Ten. With a victory against a tough opponent, they can do just that. has no leg Listening to Thomas Junta on the stand yesterday once again baf- fled my mind as to how hideously immature grown adults can be, and what tragic consequences can result from such behavior. In what has been labeled as the most extreme case of "sideline rage," 42-year old truck driver Thomas Junta is facing manslaughter charges for his senseless beating of 40-year old Michael Costin on July 5, 2000 in Reading, Mass. Junta faces 20 years in prison if convicted of the crime. But that's not enough. Junta's heinous act proves that he should spend many more years in prison, and not be given responsibility of his chil- dren when he returns. Parenting is an important privilege, and he just lost it. Sure, parents go off the deep end sometimes when intensely watching their kids play the sports they love. Sports are all about emotions, and sometimes these get the better of usu- ally respectable men and women when they argue bad calls by referees, harass coaches over playing time and even get into shouting matches with other parents. But they don't beat each other to death. Not only was this horrific incident a eye-opening example of parents taking children's sports way too seriously, but could also be the most hypocritical form of violence I've ever seen by a supposed role model and father of two. Junta was apparently upset when Costin, who was supervising several children in their routine "stick prac- tice," let the hockey scrimmage involving nine-to-11 year olds get "too chippy." Junta didn't like the fact that there was some elbowing and "cheap shots" being allowed - and didn't like Costin's response even more. "He said, 'That's hockey. That's what it's all about,' " Junta said on the stand. "Bull-. It's not. It's sup- posed to be fun." At least Junta made one good point. Sports are supposed to be fun, not deadly. When played, sports are to be taken seriously by competitors, but not over-analyzed by parents. Junta's comments would lead one to believe he realizes the "fun" in sports, to stand on but his actions spoke otherwise. In just a few minutes, Junta's appar- ent chivalrous and maternal thoughts of caring for his son's well-being transformed into an animal-like, enraged Junta pelting Costin's head - turning Junta from truck driver and father into Mike Tyson. Outweighing Costin by nearly 100 pounds, Junta still claims that it was in self-defense that he pinned Costin to the floor, punched him until both of his hands were sore and then slammed his head against the ground a few more times for good measure. This came minutes after Junta was kicked out of the arena, only to force his way back into the doors and bruising the same arena assistant manager that kicked him out. As for "defending himself" - yeah right, who's kidding who here? The worst part of the event was Junta's audience. Junta's crowd for "Fight Night In Reading" was nearly a dozen young children, including his own son. Not to mention another small boy, one of Costin's sons, who was seen by a witness crying and grabbing at the men, pleading: "That's my daddy" the boy sobbed. "Daddy" lay motionless, his color was ashen gray and his eyes open, staring straight ahead. He had suffered deep hemmorages on the left side of his neck and a torn artery in the brain after being beaten severely. The coroner called the autopsy pho- tos "horrific." I call them tragic. The first officer to make it to the arena said he immediately yelled for the children to be moved away from the "traumatic" scene and began CPR on Costin. But it was too late, the damage had been done. And Junta's response explaining the extent of his barrage on Costin: "He could've been a black belt for allI know." Nope, Costin wasn't a black belt. Just a father, who will leave three kids behind. All because of some "chippy play" in hockey practice and an adult that couldn't act his age. Joe Smith can be reached at josephms@umich.edu. ALYSSA WOOD/Daily Center LeeAnn Bies may get some time on the bench tonight against Ohio State, but coach Sue Guevara knows her presence will be necessary If Michigan Is to Improve on the defensive end. Wo-men need to jump. statdefense aaimnstOSU By Bob Hunt Daily Sports Writer While Sue Guevara might not have circled Jan. 10 on her calendars back in the fall, tonight's tilt with Ohio State has now become extremely important for the Wolverines. After ripping off 10 straight vic- tories and netting the program's highest-ever ranking of 12, Michi- gan (1-3 Big Ten, 11-4 overall has lost to Illinois, Purdue, and Wiscon- sin. So the Wolverines need a strong showing against the Buck- eyes (3-1 Big Ten, 8-7 Overall) who are off to their best start in the Big Ten since the 1998-99 season. CRISLERP Who: Michigan ( Ten, 11-4 overall State (3-1,8-7) When: 7 p.m. Latest: Michigan get back on trac Big Ten. "We had a nice rotation of about seven and now we have a nice solid rotation of around five" Ohio State coach Beth Burns said. The amount of injuries has forced Burns, who has employed man-to-man defense her entire coaching career, to implement a match-up zone. In an attempt to turn things around, Guevara has made a couple key changes. Senior guard Susana Jara will start ARENA at the point in place of Heather 1-3 Big Oesterle. Guevara hopes the move ) vs. Ohio will jump-start the play, of Alyane Ingram. In conference play Ingram, while being the team's shining star at i needs to Purdue, has not shown the defensive k in the intensity that Guevara and the coaching staff would like. "She's got to stay always in the attack mode," Guevara said. Guevara is going to try to give starting post players LeeAnn Bies and Jen Smith more rest in the first half tonight. "They're playing a lot of minutes" Guevara said. "I have to give them more of a break in the first half of a game to give them a little bit more rest to have fresh legs down the stretch." To keep them fresh, look for Katrina Mason to get more time throughout the game. But while Michigan is 1-3 in conference, there is no need to panic with 12 games still to go. "It is still way to early," said Burns, who voted Michigan as the No. I team in the conference at the beginning of the season. "I think standings are a little bit overrated right now." Netters resume practice; Jackson plays Milwaukee By Brian Schick Daily Sports Writer Since Michigan started Big Ten play, its inten- sity on defense has gone south. In Michigan's Big Ten opener against Illinois, the Illini poured on 50 second-half points to upset the Wolverines. Sunday in Madison, the Badgers buried a team record 11 three-pointers. "We, as a coaching staff, have to get back to basics and stick a firecracker up their tails to make them play some defense," Guevara said. At least Michigan will be playing a team that is banged up as well. Ohio State is now down to a meager seven players. After losing four players during the nonconference schedule, guard Tome- ka Brown went out with a knee injury in the opening moments of last Sunday's game against Northwestern, and the Buckeyes later lost start- ing center Courtney Coleman to a concussion. Many athletes have trouble keeping up with their training table over the two-week winter break. But the men's tennis team has had to endure a much longer hiatus. It's been more than two months since members of the team have faced any competition, but the Milwaukee Tennis Classic begins tomorrow. It is an individual tournament: Participants compete unattached from their respec- tive teams. Members of the Michigan team were given the option to compete this weekend, but coach Mike Mees indicated that sophomore Anthony Jackson is the only member of the ten- man squad competing. "Anthony is from right there in Mil- waukee, so he is going to go play," Mees said. "The other guys are going to stay back here to practice and work out." While Jackson will be in Wisconsin, the Wolverines will begin practicing for the team season, which begins a week from Saturday with a home meet against DePaul. Up until this point, the members of the. squad competed as individuals at several tournaments. In the meantime, the team has begun to resume official practices, which ended in the middle of November. "We've continued to do some indi- vidual work with the guys and the team continued to work during that time on their nwn." Mees said "We did I Track takes show to Bloomington for dual meet Dy Kir.. CopuM d Daily Sports Writer Whereas most sports use the regular season to determine conference championships - track and field has but one meet to determine who wins the Big Ten. "Track and field is a whole different animal," rc ~ ~ ~ n 1 lnin...h1,"Wr-tca the 400-meter dash gave Michigan its only victory in the season's opening meet. "He's been really determined," Warhurst said. "We'll need him to step up." Okenwa will have to pick up the slack for another captain, Derek Applewhite. Applewhite, the team's top hurdler, injured his hamstring last week and could not finish his race. NP hai..c h tainati - x an.A r+ t rih inl frtr the Athlete of the Year in cross country, ran during the fall and will compete both indoors and outdoors. Three seasons (in addition to national championship meets) could be draining if he is not careful. Warhurst noted that he must be wary that Allan has much more on his plate than just the indoor season - a problem that many coaches would love to have. "Allan probably wouldn't have to run a race and mol ill w+1 in at Rig Tn-," Warhurst said. Anthony Jackson will be the only Wolverine making the trip to Wisconsin. season saw it moved before break, in an attempt to keep all individual meets together and have the majority of them completed in the fall. "I liked that tournament right out of the chute in the second semester," Mees said. "It was a good way for