be Atirbiguuait SPORTS. Monday January13, 2003 SECTIONB Nili: is -------- 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.