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Monday
January13, 2003
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IN 1:11ill: 11 a loll I I I MINOR, a
FRIDAY: MICHIGAN 10,
Don t
SATURDAY:
, MICHIGAN 3
count
your
eggs
Goal from blueline
sparks Broncos,
leads to 'M' demise
By Courtney Lewis
Daily Sports Writer
KALAMAZOO - "OS-GOOD! OS-GOOD!" Midway
through the third period Saturday, the Western Michigan student
section - which had been silenced moments earlier when Michi-
gan took a 3-1 lead - stood and roared with Yost-like creativity.
No, the New York Islanders goalie wasn't vacationing from the
NHL to take in an evening of college hockey. The chants were
directed at Michigan's man between the pipes, Al Montoya, who
had just let in a goal reminiscent of Chris Osgood's gaffe as a
Detroit Red Wing in the 1998 Western Conference Finals (the
Wings lost game five in overtime when Dallas' Jamie Langen-
brunner beat Osgood from center ice).
At 8:35 Western's Vince Bellissimo wound up and let the puck
fly from beyond the Michigan blueline. The harmless-looking
shot dipped under Montoya's glove and ignited a Western Michi-
gan onslaught that resulted in two more goals and a 4-3 victory.
"I think it was a great effort on our part," Western Michigan
coach Jim Culhane said. "I don't think fortune had anything to do
with it. From the way that we were embarrassed like that last
night down there, and ... obviously, we as a program were very
disappointed with that. It took us all 60 minutes to try and get a
game out here against a remarkable opponent."
The Wolverines blew out the Broncos 10-3 on Friday, with Jed
Ortmeyer netting a hat trick in the first period, but Bellissimo
was the difference-maker Saturday.
"I wasn't really doing a good job today in the neutral zone with
the puck ... so I figured I'd just shoot one at the net," Bellissimo
said. "We had Jeremy Cheyne driving the net, kind of at the blue-
line, and I think that fooled the goalie, because I don't think he
saw the puck until the end. It was kind of knuckling as well."
No Michigan players were made available for comment after
the game, but coach Red Berenson said Bellissimo's goal was the
turning point.
"That woke the crowd up and woke their team up and then it
was a game," he said.
For the rest of the period, the Broncos swarmed the offensive
zone and pounded Montoya. Michigan held a 22-8 shot advantage
after two periods, but Western nearly evened the margin by firing
TONY DING/Daily on net 17 times in the final frame.
See BRONCOS, Page 4B
at the end
The celebrations of Friday night were short-lived as the Wolverines blew a two-goal lead in the third period on Saturday to lose 4-3 to the Broncos.
Michigan s incons
By Kyle O'Neill
Daily Sports Writer
KALAMAZOO - Michigan let Western Michigan do
the impossible Saturday night.
The Broncos rewrote the ending to "Rocky III."
That's right, the black-shirted, Clubber Lang-ers didn't fall
for the 10-count in the third round. They
took Michigan's Balboa-esque knockout HOCKEY
punch and actually got up from it, deliv- Commentary
ered their own hay-maker in the form of
a "cheap goal" and ended the bout as 4-3 victors.
The game played out just like the Hollywood version
when Western Michigan entered the game as an under-
appreciated, but up-and-coming Clubber Lang. Please note
that the Broncos everyone saw in Michigan's 10-3 demolish-
ing Friday night were not themselves and more resembled
the Boxcar Joes that Rocky beat up during the "Eye of the
Tiger" montage.
istencies lead to failures
After Friday night's game there wasn't much the Broncos team in Michigan.
could say. But they went into Saturday with determination, If the first periods
starting in the waking hours of the morning. Broncos came to pun
"We came here this morning and the guys were still They were outshot b}
feeling (the loss from Friday)," Western Michigan period ahead by a go
defenseman Dave Cousineau said. "We weren't happy they sent Michigan p
with what happened, the coaches weren't happy. We kind throughout the first2
of battled it out in the dressing room and pregame skate. "We wanted to brin
We had a tough pregame skate, full gear, we were bang- think (Friday) night w
ing in it, which is something you don't see very often. We our end," Cousineau s
knew that we had to come out and turn the second half of that much time, they'i
the season around, because after the 10-3 game, we were came out and guys sta
questioning ourselves." aline going and somet
So the weekend's prize fight was all set up. Michigan, you back in the game:
coming off huge wins against Miami (Apollo Creed) last Then, as if Creed, h
weekend had all the momentum on its side. Western Michi- There is no tomorrow
gan, with a tie against No. 3 Maine and an overtime loss to first intermission, the
No. 4 Cornell, had proven itself many times and now just second period, as they
needed to prove it could beat the CCHA's perennial No. 1
showed anything, it was that the
nish their in-state rivals from the East.
y the Wolverines 8-3, but left the
al and were much more confident as
players to the ice with gruesome hits
20 minutes.
ig a more intense game to the table, I
re were kind of watching Michigan at
aid. "If you give a team that talented
re going to pour goals on you. So we
arted banging bodies. It gets the adren-
times a big hit is all you need to get
himself, yelled, "There is no tomorrow!
0" in Michigan's lockerroom during the
Wolverines turned things around in the
strategically used Western Michigan's
See ROCKY, Page 4B
DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily
The type of play that began in the waning minutes of Friday
night's game carried over 10-fold on Saturday.
No Lion: Cagers wrap
up ninth straight win
'King James' won't offer pardon to
friend Dion Harris in drubbing
By Charles Paradis
Daily Sports Writer
This weekend, the Michigan bas-
ketball team proved there is more
than one way to win. After downing
teams such
as UCLA ' PENN STATE 53
and Wis-
c o n s i n MICHIGAN 66
with supe-
rior 3-point shooting, the Wolverines
could not find their shot against
Penn State.
Michigan (2-0 Big Ten, 9-6
overall) connected on just one trey
against the Nittany Lions (0-2, 5-
8) but it was a big one. Senior
LaVell Blanchard's triple in the
waning minutes of the game
secured the Wolverines' 66-53
victory, extending the team's win-
ning streak to nine.
"I thought LaVell Blanchard's
three - and I didn't realize it was
the only three that we made -
was just a huge shot," Michigan
coach Tommy Amaker said. "He
certainly got a lot of arc on that
Blanchard's rainbow was set up by
the penetration of freshman Daniel
Horton. Horton knifed through the
Penn State defense and kicked the
ball out to Blanchard, who launched
the three with just over two minutes
to go to put the Wolverines up 61-49.
Blanchard's triple put the game out
of reach of the Lions, who were
mounting a late-game comeback.
"The three-point shot has been a
big part of our offense and we
weren't hitting them (Saturday),"
junior Bernard Robinson said. "But
we did hit one when Penn State was
fighting back. (Blanchard) hit that
one shot and it really sparked us."
One of the things that helped
Michigan in the game was its ability
to get to the free throw line. Michigan
reached the foul line 37 times in the
game, including 30 trips in the second
half alone, while Penn State attempt-
ed just eight foul shots the entire
game. The charity stripe turned out to
be not so giving to the Wolverines
who connected on just 25 of their 37
attempts.
"We need to do a better job at the
By Seth Klempner
Daily Sports Writer
CLEVELAND - Eighteen-year-old phenom
LeBron James walks around wearing a self-referencing
King James shirt, holding court everywhere he goes.
On and off the basketball court he has the composure
and poise of someone 10 years-older than himself.
With such an outgoing and gregarious personality it
is easy to understand why so many people are attracted
to the star. From Ohio State running back Maurice
Clarett to basketball great Michael Jordan, many A-list
athletes are trying to get close to the man who has been
predicted to be the first pick in the 2003 NBA Draft.
But one of the lesser-known athletes to form a close
bond with James is Michigan's star recruit, Dion Har-
ris. Harris, a senior from Detroit Redford High School,
has been playing against James' St. Vincent-St. Mary's
team for the past four years and has developed a friend-
ship with James.
"We started to get closer after playing each other dur-
ing our sophomore seasons and then seeing each other
on AAU trips," said Harris who is considered a top can-
didate for the Mr. Basketball award in Michigan.
The two, who typically keep in regular contact with
each other, have not been able to talk as much this year
due to the hectic travel schedule of James' Fighting
Irish team. But Harris did note that he was looking for-
ward to talking with James after their game yesterday.
T)PCTc~tP.* tht-ir hiah l1.,rp-lrof ivlveumpnt in id-til
"They are the best of friends," Michigan assistant
coach Charles Ramsey said. "They have attended
camps together since a young age and keep in contact
over the phone. And this (was) the last time that Dion
will have a real good shot playing against one of his
better friends."
Last year's St. Vincent-St. Mary versus Redford
game ended in a three-point margin of victory in which
Harris shined with 31 points and probably could have
scored more had he been more selfish with the ball.
But this effort was outdone by James, who scored 43
points in the win.
While Michigan was able to land Harris as its
bluechip recruit for next year, coach Ramsey said that
the coaching staff decided to "stop wasting the
postage" on mailing recruiting material to James two
years ago.
In what promised to be a memorable game between
the No. 1 high school team in the nation and No. 14
Detroit Redford yesterday, instead turned out to be a
lopsided 76-41 loss for Detroit Redford.
Despite getting off to a slow start in the first quarter,
the Huskies would cut the lead to six going into half-
time. Harris found his scoring touch in the second
quarter and forced James into foul trouble by aggres-
sively attacking him.
"In the second quarter, I was pretty aggressive in
attacking the basket, and I think their team defense
wasn't that good in the second quarter," Harris said.