I Tuesday November 26, 2002 michigandaily.com sportsdesk@umich.edu (Th iAMfdigrniail PORTS 8 Blue overcomes eight-point deficit DAVID HORN 0 By Gennaro Flice Daily Sports Writer With 4:38 remaining in the game, Cal.-Santa Barbara forward Kristen Mann hit her second consecutive shot, extend- ing the i UC SANTA BARBA 64 G a u - MICHIGAN 70 lead to eight. In Santa Barbara coach Mark French's mind, the fat lady was hitting her high note. "I thought maybe we were going to YESTERDAY'S GAME Santa Barbara (64) FG FT REB MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS Richardson 23 2-5 0-0 2-3 3 1 4 Mann 31 7-18 0-0 1-3 4 4 14 Taylor 30 4-13 0-0 2-6 0 4 8 Hansen 26 3-7 4-4 1-2 2 2 11 Caine 30 4-8 0-0 0-2 2 2 10 Bonds 9 1-5 0-0 0-0 0 0 2 Willet 17 1-5 0-0 0.1 0 3 2 Fisher 26 4-8 0-0 3-5 1 4 9 Sarr 6 2-2 0-0 1-1 0 3 4 Totals 200 28-71 4-4 15-29 12 23 64 FG%: .394. FT%: 1.00. 3-point FG: 1-12, .200 Richardson 0-1, Mann 0-4, Taylor 0-1, Hansen 2-5, aine 2-6, Bonds 0-2, Willet 0-1). Blocks: 3 nRichardson 1, Taylor 2) Steals: 11 (Richardson 2, Mann 20Caine 2, Bonds 3, Fisher 2). Turnovers: 11 (Taylor , Hansen 3, Caine 3, Bonds 1, Willet 1, Fisher 1). Technical fouls: none. MICHIGAN (70) FG FT REB MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS Pool 31 5-14 2-2 1-7 3 1 14 Smith 29 4-10 2-4 5-10 2 3 10 Bies 36 3-9 7-8 4-11 2 2 13 Reams 30 3-6 0-0 4-4 3 0 7 Burlin 15 0-2 0-0 0-1 3 2 0 Andrews 25 2-4 5-5 "0-1 0 2 9 Goodlow 10 1-2 0-0 2-3 0 0 2 Gandy 24 5-9 - 2-2 0-4 1 1 15 Totals 200 23-56 18-211649 14 11 70 FG%:.411. FT%: .857 3-pointFG: 6-12 500 (Reams 1-1, Gandy 3-4, Pool 2-5, Burlin 0-2). Blocks: 4 (Pool 1, Bies 2, Andrews 1). Steals: 5 (Bies 2, Gandy 1, Reams 2). Turnovers: 24 (Burlin 3,Bies 3 Pool 4, Gandy 3, Smith 4, Reams 2, Andrews 2). Technical fouls: none. UC Santa Barbara:::::::::::::::............31 33 - 64 Michigan .............................31 39 - 70 At: Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor Attendance: 926 blovw them out there," French said. "We had momentum going, and we had them by eight." But the youthful Michigan squad stayed calm and erased the late-deficit, eventually winning the game over No. 25 Santa Barbara, 70-64. In the first half, Michigan rode the back of sophomore forward Tabitha Pool, who led both teams in scoring after 20 minutes. Pool's 12 points and a 6-0 Michigan run to end the half left both teams deadlocked at 31 with one half to go. Ten minutes into the second half, the Gauchos took control of the game. Santa Barbara gained its biggest lead, 60-51, at 8:05. During this stretch, the Wolverines had a lot of trouble taking care of the ball. In the game, the Santa Barbara defense helped cause 24 Michigan turnovers. "Our game plan going into the game was to try and pressure their young guards, and maybe see if we could try to create enough pressure to gain some turnovers," French said. Although Santa Barbara began to pull ahead, Michigan would not go away. One thing that kept the Wolver- ines in the game was their relentless effort on the boards as they beat the Gauchos in rebounding, 49-29. "Coach Guevara kept up with us, and she told us to never let our head down," Andrews said. "She told us we had a lot of time left, and we could pull it out. So that gave us faith. She was still with us even though we were down by seven or eight. We believed in her, and we lis- tened to what she said." Then, after the aforementioned out- burst by Mann, Michigan roared back. With 3:28 left in regulation, Andrews It's like de/d vu all JASON UCOOPER/Daily Michigan's Lauren Andrews' two free throws with 30 seconds left in the game put the Wolverines ahead for good. Andrews finished with nine points. drove hard to the hoop and converted a shot after being fouled. After making the free throw, Michigan trailed the Gauchos 64-59. In the Wolverines' next possession, senior LeeAnn Bies received the ball, and the Santa Barbara defense con- verged on her. Junior Stephanie Gandy felt the defense leave her, and relocated behind the 3-point arc. "I just found an open spot," Gandy said. "Bies had three people on her, and I called for the ball. I was wide open, because they were collapsing so hard on our post people all game. And it was just up to me to hit the big shot." Gandy nailed the open three and cut the deficit to 64-62. With a minute remaining, Gandy smoothly hit two free throws, and tied the game at 64. Thirty seconds later, Andrews stepped to the charity stripe and downed both of her attempts, giv- ing the Wolverines their first lead of the second half. After a Gauchos' timeout, the Wolverines stuffed Santa Barbara on their ensuing possession. After harness- ing the rebound, Pool was fouled with nine seconds remaining. Having not scored since the first half, the Ann Arbor native iced the game making both free throws. "We practice free throws everyday.in practice," Pool said. "It was a big chal- lenge, and I had to focus." over aga in Back in April, I jokingly asked coach Lloyd Carr whether I should book my flight to central Florida then. He laughed. The joke, of course, was that Michigan had managed to find its way there every New Year's. History, for Michigan football, has had a way of repeating itself over my four years here. Saturday night, on the way back from Columbus, it occurred to me that I would like to get in a time machine and go back to an hour before the Michigan-Ohio State game. I'd like to have had a word with Carr; to tell him what he could do differently to alter the course of history. But if there's one thing I've learned from pop-cultural time travel, it is futile to disrupt the space-time continuum. Indeed, there is little I could have told Carr about what to expect that would have made much difference. I could have told him to put nine men in the box, and to over-commit to stopping Maurice Clarett. That Craig Krenzel and the Ohio State passing attack weren't going to beat him, and that taking Clarett out of the equation would mean a complete collapse of the Buckeyes. But truly, as successful as Clarett was against the depleted Michigan front seven, there was not much more that could have been done. Clarett moved in and out of holes with the grace and flu- idity of an old seamstress,iutting and accelerating better than any tailback I have ever seen. He beat us, fair and square, and putting 30 men in the box probably wouldn't have contained him. I could have told Lloyd to go for it on 4th-and-goal at the end of the magnifi- cent second quarter drive that resulted in Adam Finley's third field goal could have told him that points were to be at a premium in the second half, and that it would have been worth his while to call a fade to Braylon Edwards or a sweep to Chris Perry or a short curl to Bennie Joppru and go up 13-7 entering half- time. The field goal, at the time, was " for Varsity definitely the right call. But man. That's what time machines are for. I have had mixed feelings about Michigan's offensive play calling this season, but Saturday was probably the best-called game by Carr and offensive coordinator Terry Malone, save for a miscommunication with one second left in the game. The first half was an absolute pleas- ure to watch, as quarterback John Navarre picked apart the middle of the Ohio State defense and Perry ran as intelligently as he ever has. Finley's field goal proficiency was tremendous. The thing of it is, this game was a matter of predestination. Michigan foot- ball was on a crash course with destiny that has existed as long as I, a senior, have been at this school. That destiny? 6-2 in the Big Ten. Central (or southern) Florida. The SEC on NewYear's Day. There was nothing to tell Carr because there was nothing Michigan could have done to escape its fate. You don't want to mess with the space-time continuum, and beating Ohio State on Saturday would have altered the course of history and bucked a predetermined trend for Michigan football. It would have given the team a 7-1 Big Ten record and a strong possibility of play- ing a non-SEC team in somewhere other than Florida. It would have redefined what is expected of the Wolverines. There is no finger-pointing. Michigan played as well as it could have, and I have no complaints. The bottom line, and the only thing that I could have said to Carr an hour before kickoff, is this: Michigan, over my four years here, is only so good. There's nothing you can do in theHorseshoe this afternoon that's going to change that. And Lloyd: I'll see you in central Florida. My ticket is already bookk. David Horn can be reached via email at hornd@umich.edu. " Men surpnse the NCAA field in taking eighth MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY TERRE HAUTE, IND. By Chris Amos For the Daily TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - On a deso- late and windswept Indiana field, the Michigan men's cross country team made history yesterday, finishing eighth, the team's highest ever place at an NCAA Championship. The Wolver- ines were led by sophomore Nate Bran- nen and freshman Nick Willis, both of whom earned All-America honors by finishing among the race's top 30. Brannen paced all Wolverines in SCOREKEEPERS SPORTSGRILL & PUS MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL $2 Pints Al25 Drafts M. ered Tuesdays NO covert Seth's Summer Slam $4 Import Pitcher of the week $2 Dos Equls/Corona Tech no/Tra nz With DJ Mark C. Wednesdays Half Pound Angus Burger and Ale Night Only $4:5 7 And till Close $2.50 Pints/All 25 Flavors Thursdays $2.50 Pitchers Killians ~ Coors light DJ JOHN KING Friday Grill opens for Lunch@ 11am iftqpg k km apew 4-7piK $1.75 Heineken/Amstel Light SATURDAYS COLLEGE FOOTBALL 30:20.4 to finish in 21st place while New Zealand native Willis finished sec- ond among Wolverines in 30:24.7, net- ting a 22nd overall finish. Senior Nick Stanko, junior Tom Greenless and redshirt freshman Sean Moore each turned in career-best per- formances to round out the Wolverines' top five. Greenless finished 103rd with a time of 31:08.6. Stanko finished 120th in a time of 31:18.1 and Moore finished one place behind Stanko in 31:18.2. Michigan Coach Ron Warhurst expressed pleasure with the team's per- formance. "We were 19th going in and finished eighth," Warhurst said. We ran very well." Warhurst was pleased by his top five runners and lauded Stanko, Greenless and Moore for running together through the race's first 3,000 meters and encour- aging each other to finish as highly as they did. He also cited Brannen's improvement, as the Canadian went from 180th last year to 21st this year. "We peaked at the right time and got rested up. Both factors are very impor- tant in cross country," Warhurst said. Stanford soared to an NCAA Championship with a low score of 47 points. Several teams that Michi- gan faced in last week's regional championships fared well at the NCAAs. Wisconsin finished second with 107 points and local nemesis Eastern Michigan finished third with 165. Central Michigan finished in ninth place with 337 points. "A lot of teams from our region placed well," said Warhurst. "Teams from our region captured seven of the 13 at-large bids. It shows that when you run against top competition like we have all season, it makes you prepared to do well in races like this one." Colorado's Jorge Torres edged Arkansas' Alistair Cragg to win the individual NCAA crown. Torres fin- ished in 29:04.7; Cragg, in 29:06. Stan- ford's Grant Robinson took third place in 29:36.7. Eastern Michigan's Boaz Cheboiwyo finished seventh in 29:46. Warhurst said he looks forward to next year. "All nine guys (are) returning," Warhurst said. "Five redshirts will also be back and we are expecting some strong freshmen recruits. We will have some very competitive practices, but you need that to improve." Ryan Gall, a freshman team mem- ber unable to qualify for this year's NCAAs, expressed his optimism about next year. "I came expecting guys that I had read and looked up to all through high school to put me in my place, but it was just the opposite," Gall said. "Upper- classmen have been very supportive, and I look forward to working with them to help us out next year." Paradise lost; cagers finish tourney at 0-3 By Nawed Sikora Daily Sports Writer Freshman Walters leads women harriers to 15th place in NCAAs WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY TERRE HAUTE, IND. By Chris Amos For the Daily TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Rebecca Walters would have been unlikely to be cast as a future collegiate heroine last fall at Groves High School in Beverly Hills, Mich. while running in relative obscurity. "She wasn't even on the national scene recruiting-wise last year during her senior year of high school," said coach Mike McGuire. But her stalwart effort led the Michi- gan women's cross country team to an unexpectedly strong 15th place finish at yesterday's NCAA Championships. Walters finished in 51st place with a time of 20:49.3 and was followed across the finish line by junior teammate Lind- sey Gallow in 21:22.4. Senior captain FOOD FOR 'I lLGu' HANOI JANE Jane Martineau surpassed her lifetime best by 25 seconds, to finish third among the Wolverines with a time of21:22.7. Coach Mike McGuire was especially pleased with Walters' performance. "She turned in one of our best per- formances ever by a first-year freshman. During the last 3,000 meters she passed 32 competitors while being overtaken only once;' he said "That is both excep- tional and rare." McGuire explained that Walters' per- formance was especially noteworthy because she didn't have the high school credentials of many of her competitors. "She adapted very well to a college level training regimen rand does a great job of maintaining her compo- sure during races," McGuire said. "As a result, she was able to defeat many young women who were far more heavily recruited than she." McGuire was equally pleased by the team's overall performance. "We weren't even ranked nationally preseason, but won the Big Ten and fin- ished second in our region and entered this tournament ranked 15th nationally. Our goal here was to hold our ranking and we did," he said. . McGuire said he expected his younger runners to use today's race to hone the mental toughness necessary to compete at national level events featuring large fields of talented athletes, saying that mental toughness is a key indicator of national success. Walters seemed to echo McGuire, saying that yesterday's race was especial- ly difficult mentally. "Some racers were falling down after being elbowed or spiked by other run- ners jockeying for position," she said, " I had to hurdle one girl who fell in front of me. I was tiring out near the end, but on the final straightaway I got a burst and ended on a good note." Martineau said she was pleased to end her collegiate career on such a positive note. "In past years, we had multiple All- Americans, but this year we accom- plished what we have because we were as close as a group of girls can Following Michigan's 65-53 loss to Virginia Tech Sunday night in the sec- ond round of the Paradise Jam Tourna- ment, Michigan coach Tommy Amaker had this to say about changing the los- ing mindset of his team: "All of that is a culture, and as we contin- KANSAs STATE 82 ue to move forward to try i MICHIGAN 71 and build our program, it is a very difficult thing to crack. So we have a losing culture right now, and we have a chance to bounce back with our game tomorrow night." Unfortunately, for the Wolverines, yesterday's fifth-place game against Kansas State seemed more like a con- tinuation of culture rather than a turning point, as Michigan was defeated 82-71 to fall to 0-3. It's the first time the Wolverines have began a season 0-3 since the 1970-71 season, and only the fourth time in their history they have opened with three straight losses. Coupled with their first two losses, Michigan was the only team to go winless in the tournament. Michigan's strong second-half per- formance, in which it outscored the Wildcats 48-41, was overshadowed by a poor-shooting, turnover-ridden first half. After shooting just 34 percent in the first half to Kansas State's 53 per- cent, Michigan found itself down by 18 going into the lockerroom. Michigan was not able to control Kansas State's offense, as the Wildcats' went on two long first half scoring runs. With the score knotted at seven and just under eight minutes to play, the Wild- cats went on a 14-5 run to take a nine- point lead. Following a basket by Michigan center Chris Hunter, Kansas free throw line." The one bright spot for Michigan was freshman Daniel Horton. The point guard came out firing in the second half, going 5-for-8 from the field and scoring a career high 17 points. Senior LaVell Blanchard added 17, while Bernard Robinson had 14 points. Michigan sophomore guard Dom- manic Ingerson did not travel with the team due to concerns about potential tendonitis in his Achilles tendon. Michigan sorely missed his shooting ability from behind the arc, as the Wolverines went 18-55 (32.7 percent) from 3-point land for the tournament. Overall, Michigan's Paradise Jam experience made it evident that the Wolverines have a lot of room for improvement. Although Michigan managed to play well in spurts, such as the second half last night, it failed to put together 40 solid minutes. The Wolverines were was also outre- bounded in each of the three games they played. Michigan will return home to face Western Michigan Saturday afternoon. YESTERDAY'S GAME MICHIGAN (71) MIN M-A MA 0-T A F PTS Robinson 34 6-12 0-0 1-4 5 4 14 Blanchard 32 6-15 3-4 3.7 0 5 17 Hunter 22 1-6 1-2 3.4 1 4 3 Abram 24 5-8 2-2 0-2 1 5 13 Horton 35 5-15 6-8 0-3 2 2 17 nueen 12 0-1 0-0 1-2 2 1 0 Harrell 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Groninger 13 1-2 0-0 1-1 0 2 3 Brown 17 1-5 2-5 2-4 0 2 4 Bailey 9 0-0 0-0 0.1 0 1 0 Totals 200 25.64 14-2115.331U126 71 FG%: .391. FT%: .667. 3-polnt FG: 7-20, .350 (Blanchard 2-4, Robinson 2-5, Horton 1-8, Abram 1- Banchard). Steals: 7 (Horton 3,oblanchard 2n - Robinson, Abram). Turnovers: 14 (Horton 4, Fobin- son 3, Blanchard 2, Abram 1). Technical fouls: none. Kansas State (82) FG~ FT REB 9