The Michigan Daily - SportsTuesday - January 6, 2004 - 38 BIG TEN Team Wisconsin Michigan Illinois Purdue Iowa Minnesota Ohio State Penn State Indiana Michigan State Northwestern STANDINGS Conference Overall w 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 L 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 W L 9 2 9 2 9 2 10 3 7 3 7 4 8 5 6 5 6 5 5 6 5 6 M) cagers recover from loss with road win over Fairfield Saturday's results: MICHIGAN 66, Fairfield 43 WISCONSIN 75, College of Charleston 49 ILLINOIS 80, Illinois State 73 (OT) Missouri 63, INDIANA 58 SYRACUSE 96, Michigan State 83 Sunday's results: MINNESOTA 82, Wofford 70 Texas Tech 80, OHIO STATE 72 By Daniel Bremmer Daily Sports Writer NEW YORK - Behind the scoring of its back- court and the poise of its defense, the Michigan basketball team cruised to a 66-43 win over Fair- field at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. After giving up a layup off the opening tip, Michigan went on to control the first half. Leading 25-19 with 1:14 remaining in the half, Michigan forward Bernard Robinson hit a pull-up jumper coming out of a media M____GAN ____ timeout. On the ensuing Fair- field possession, guard Lester Abram came up with a steal, which led to a 3- pointer by guard Daniel Horton with 10 seconds left on the clock. Michigan extended its lead to 30-19 at halftime and never looked back. "We wanted to see if we could close it out - we talked about finishing the half in a certain manner," Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said. "I didn't anticipate we'd score that three at the end, but I was hoping that we could burn some time and score on that previous possession." Leading by double digits for the entire second half, Michigan seemed on its way to an easy vic- tory, but Fairfield (7-3) made one last surge, scoring six unanswered points in two minutes to cut the deficit to 15 with 5:28 to go. Robinson answered back, going on a personal 6-0 run for Michigan - highlighted by a break- away dunk - on its next three possessions to push the lead back to 21 and end any hope for Fairfield. The win was Michigan's second victory away from Crisler. In the Wolverines other games on the road this season, they squeaked by Butler 61- 60 in overtime at a neutral site, Conseco Field- house, on Nov. 30, and suffered a 20-point loss at Vanderbilt on Dec. 6. Throughout the game, Michigan's defense was too quick and physical for an overmatched Fair- field team. The Wolverines forced the Stags to commit 23 turnovers and held their leading scorer, 6-foot-9 forward Deng Gai, to just eight points on 3-of-8 shooting. Fairfield's total of 43 points was the lowest Michigan has allowed an opponent all season. "They didn't let us do anything," said Fairfield coach Tim O'Toole, who coached with Amaker at both Duke and Seton Hall. "They took us out of everything we wanted to do. They manhandled us." Gai was also stymied on the defensive end, blocking just two shots, down from his season average of 5.5 blocks per game. The Wolverines were paced by consistent play from their guards and wings. Robinson (19), Hor- ton (17), Dion Harris (13) and Abram (11) com- bined for 60 of the team's 66 points. Michigan also hit 8-for-17 from beyond the arc, something the team had struggled with in last Tuesday's 61-60 loss to Boston University, when the team shot just 6-for-26 from down- town. "As a whole, I don't think we had played as good as we all can at the same time," Robinson said. "Today, we played up to our capabilities at the same time." In addition to scoring, the Wolverines took care of the ball. Horton, Harris and Abram each turned it over just once, and the team combined for just 13 giveaways. Today's game: Indiana at Wisconsin Tomorrow's games: Northwestern at Michigan Minnesota at Penn State Purdue at Iowa Ohio State at Illinois Saturday's games: Michigan State at Wisconsin Ohio State at Penn State Northwestern at Iowa Purdue at Illinois Princeton at Minnesota Sunday's game: indiana at Michigan 8 p.m. 7 p.m. 8 p.m. 8 p.m. 9 p.m. 12 p.m. 12:15 p.m. 12:30 p.m. 4:30 p.m. 8 p.m. 4:30 p.m. AP PHOTO Daniel Horton and the rest of the Wolverine guards recovered nicely from their loss to Boston University. "I think we've been a team that has been a little careless with the ball," Amaker said. "We value the ball as a point of emphasis coming into this game." For Fairfield, sophomore guard Terrance Todd paced the team with 10 points and six assists, and junior guard Kudjo Sogadzi led the Stags with 11 points off the bench. Mathis enjoys homecoming at Madison Square Garden By Dan Rosen Daily Sports Writer UP NEXT: NORTHWESTERN Bill Carmody's team comes into Ann Arbor tomorrow in serious need of a win. After the Wildcats lost to Illinois-Chicago, they went down to Texas and lost to both Rut- gers and Mississippi Valley State. Northwestern will likely try to slow down the pace of the game using Carmody's offense. INDIANA This Sunday's CBS encounter will be crucial to the Wolverines' tour- nament chances. Indiana was embarrased by both Wake Forest and Kentucky, and a Michigan loss would not be a good way to go into Michigan State the following week.{ NEW YORK - J.C. Mathis scored just two points Saturday. At least they came on a jump shot from the baseline - a favorite Madison Square Garden spot of his childhood idol, Patrick Ewing. "I was very upset to see (him) get traded," the Brooklyn native said of Ewing's being sent to Seattle in 2000. He was also upset about the way he played against Fairfield. The contest at the Garden was a homecoming for Mathis. He would have liked to do more in front of the dozens of friends and family he had in attendance. "It was good getting a win coming back home," Mathis said. "We played well as a team. It was disap- pointing for me, I mean, my performance. But we played well." The 6-foot-8 forward also grabbed three rebounds and added an assist in 19 minutes of action. Mathis was a two-time first-team All-City selection at John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx. His father, Johnny Mathis, was his coach. But J.C. didn't get a chance to do much visiting on this trip. "We came in (Friday) night, and we had a lot of things as a team until about 11 o'clock," Mathis said. "So there was really no time to do anything." It's been a long road for Mathis since he last played at the Gar- den in high school. He spent two years at Virginia before trans- ferring in search of more playing time. As NCAA rules require, Mathis sat out last year before suiting up for Michigan. Regardless of his performance, Mathis appreciated being back in New York. "It's special every time I come back here," he said. "I really enjoy playing in this arena." BIGGER THAN THE GAME: Senior Bernard Robinson played over break despite the loss of his father on Christmas Day. Bernard Robinson Sr. had been battling lung cancer for the past year. "I went home for a couple of days," Robinson said. "I was able to talk with my mom and sister for a while. They expressed that they were doing okay. The team did great for me, talked with me and comforted me. It definitely feels good to get away to New York City, and distract myself, to play in the Garden and come up with a victory." Robinson decided to play against UCLA on Dec. 27, after learning of his father's passing. He scored 17 points in the Wolverines' win. Robinson played again in Michigan's loss to Boston University on Dec. 30, hours after returning from the funeral in Washington, D.C. He scored six points and had seven rebounds in that game. Robinson scored a game-high 19 points against Fairfield on Saturday. ALMOST THERE: Chris Hunter is on his way back. The sopho- more, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in mid-Decem- ber, said that his progress has been "great." He's already circled; Sunday's home game with Indiana as a possible return date, if things continue to move along. "It was something that was bothering me the whole year," said Hunter, who was averaging 6.2 points per game in his five games this season. "Hopefully, I can come back 100 percent and be more accurate and be more explosive." CHARITY TROUBLE: Michigan's problems at the free-throw line: continued Saturday against Fairfield. The Wolverines made 6-of- 19 shots from the stripe, bringing their season mark down to 64.6 percent. 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