4 12A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 29, 2004 Sims busts out with longball By Daniel Bremmer Daily Sports Writer Michigan's Courtney Sims has beep waiting all season for his chance to bust loose - just ask his mom. "I talked to my mother about it," Sims said. "She said that if I have one breakout game, it will help me throughout the whole (rest of) the season." Last night's 90-84 win over Iowa may have been that game for Sims, as the freshman scored a career- high 16 points in 24 minutes of action. Sims got off to a quick start, scoring the game's first five points. "We tried to establish an inside-outside game," Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said. "Courtney pro- s ducing in the post helped open up our perimeter shooting, and we were able to knock those (shots) down." After making a few buckets, Sims' confidence and aggression rose. He looked to get to the bas- o the ball," Sims said. "But my team was making shots - Daniel hit a big three at the beginning of the sec- ond half - so I wasn't really mad. I just want to win." Sims was limited by Iowa's defense early in the second frame, but the freshman re-entered the game with 10:23 remaining and continued his offensive onslaught. Sims hit two free throws and his first- career 3-pointer to reach his career-high total. With 10 games left in the Big Ten season, Sims hopes that his mom's prediction proves true. ENERGIZED: For the second straight game, freshman Brent Petway came in off the bench and made his presence known. Petway had five points - none coming on dunks. He also added three blocks and took a charge to ener- gize Michigan. "I know what my role is, and my role is to defend and rebound," Petway said. "I have the jumping abili- ty that if I box out, I can jump up over anybody and get the ball." After playing just three minutes in the first half, Petway played 10 minutes in the second and led the team in rebounding with seven. "He always brings a spark off the bench," guard Daniel Horton said. "He always has a lot of energy." BREAKING THE DROUGHT: After jumping out on Iowa in the first half to a 31-20 lead, Michigan suffered a six-and-a-half-minute scoreless drought in the first half - just as it had during early Big Ten games against Wisconsin and Michigan State. Michigan allowed Iowa to run off 15 unanswered points in the first half and trailed 35-31 with four minutes left in the frame. But unlike their games against the Spartans and HAWKEYES Continued from Page 8A second half - 33 second-half fouls led to 47 total free throws. One play- er on each team fouled out. During one stretch midway through the half, there were free throws shot on four straight possessions. Michigan guard Daniel Horton, who was battling an illness all day Tuesday, shut down Iowa's second- leading scorer, Jeff Horner. Horton took advantage of his quickness by guarding Horner (who was averaging 12 points per game coming in) along the 3-point line and forcing him to put the ball on the floor. "I can't imagine any game he faces in the Big Ten where he's the quickest and most athletic guy," said Iowa coach Steve Alford of Horner. "He's going to have to learn to play with that." Freshman Brent Petway came off the bench to spark the Wolverines on defense, as well. He blocked three shots and grabbed seven rebounds in 13 minutes of playing time. He also drew an emphatic charge on Worley in the second half, giving the Iowa forward his fourth foul of the game. "I pride myself on the defensive end," Petway said. "I don't like peo- ple scoring on me." Alford admitted after the game that it was a tough contest for him ket on almost every touch in the post. Later in the half, the 6-foot-11 center caught the ball on the block, turned and took it aggressively at an Iowa defender. Sims dropped the ball in the bucket to raise his point total to 11, and narrowly escaped a charging call in the process. "I didn't even know he was there," Sims said. "I was just trying to draw contact once I saw him." In the second half, Iowa's defense sagged into the lane to try and prevent Michigan from being able to make an entry pass. "I was getting a little frustrated that I wasn't getting Freshmen Brent Petway and Courtney Sims created an inside presence for the Wolverines last night. Badgers, the Wolverines battled back after going on their scoreless streak. Lester Abram knocked down a triple for Michigan with 2:28 left in the half, scored a layup and was fouled on the Wolverines' next trip down the floor. The Wolverines outscored the Hawkeyes 13-2 to end the half and go in the lockerroom leading 44-37. "Certainly it was a game of runs," Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said. "We told our guys at halftime whichever team (was) going to stretch a run out was going to win." to coach. On Tuesday, the Iowa coach lost his grandmother due to a stroke. "There (were) no warning signs," Alford said after last night's game. Michigan will head to Illinois on Saturday looking to steal a road win from the Fighting Illini. According to Horton, the team will have to play better defense to win in Champaign. "That's what this team is about, is defense," Horton said. YESTERDAY'S GAME IOWA (84) FG FT REB MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS Pierce 38 9-13 5-11 2-7 4 1 23 Worley 29 5-7 66 0-7 2 4 18 Sondereiter33 6-8 01 15 2 2 12 Horner 32 4-9 0-0 1-3 4 4 3 Boyd 30 4-6 2-2 0-0 2 5 13 Brunner 23 3-7 66 1-5 2 4 13 Rand 9 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 10 Hansen 5 1-1 0-0 00 0 4 2 Spurgeon 1 00 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 TEAM 00 Totals 200 29-5019-265-271726 84 FG%: .400. FT%: .731. 3-pont FG: 7-16, .438 (Boyd 34, Woley 2., Homer 1-4, Brun- ner 1-2, Rand 02). Blocks: 3 (Wole, Sonder- leiter, Brunner). Steals: 8 (Boyd 2, Pierce, Worley, Sonderleiter, Homer, Rand, Hansen). Turnovers: 18 (Worley 5, Boyd 5, Pierce 4, Team 2, Sonderleiter, Boyd). Technical fouls: none. MICHIGAN (90) FG FT REB MIN M-A MA 0-T A F PTS Robinson 25 3-6 3-3 0-7 6 5 10 Sims 24 6-10 3-5 1-1 1 4 16 Brown 28 4-600 240 18 Horton 36 3-7 6-10 02 7 1 15 Abram 36 8-12 4-5 1-3 1 2 24 Mathis 13 1-3 0-2 1-2 1 0 2 Harris 22 4-11 1-2 0-1 4 4 10 Petway 13 2-3 1-2 4-7 0 0 5 Team 2-3 Totals 200 31-5818-2911-3020 20 90 FG%: .534. FT%: .621. 3-poInt F: 10-22, .455 (Abram 46, Horton 3-6, Harris 1-6, Robinson 1-2, Sims 1-1, Mathis 0-1). Blocks: 5 (Petway 3, Sims 2). Steals: 8 (Horton 3, Robinson 2, Brown 2, Sims). Tumovers: 14 (Robinson 3, Horton 3, Harris 3, Abram 2, Sims, Brown, Mathis). Technical fouls: none. Iowa........................... 37 47 - 84 Michigan.....................4446 - 90 At: Crisler Arena Attendance: 10,421 'M' to race with elite in Boston By James V. Dowd Daily Sports Writer Junior Nate Brannen and sopho- more Nick Willis often seem like big fish in a relatively little pond in Ann Arbor. Both have established them- selves as world-class middle-distance runners and potential Olympians. Both have achieved All-America honors, and Brannen won an indoor NCAA championship in the 800-meter run. This Saturday, the pair, along with four teammates, will step into a slight- ly bigger pond. They are traveling to Massachusetts to compete in the Boston Indoor Games at the Reggie Williams Track and Field Center. "I think Nate is looking to run as fast as he can," Michigan coach Ron Warhurst said. "(Willis) will compete 4 4 4 against the best in the country." Perhaps "best in the coun- try" is a bit of an understat- m e n t - some of the best in the accurate. 4 SATURDAY Boston Indoor Games Time: 5:00 p.m. Saturday Boston ESPN2 (6-7 p.m.) world might be more The 3,000-meter run will feature Willis, competing for New Zealand, along with Michigan alum Kevin Sul- livan, who will represent Canada. The two raced in last Saturday's Kris Eggle Invitational 3,000-meter run, with Willis winning by a mere .07 seconds. The pair will be challenged this week by defending champion Alistair Craig of Ireland, and other top-10 finishers from last year's games. Willis won last week's race with a time just over eight minutes, while Craig won last year's race at the Boston games with a time of 7:45.22. Willis hinted that he and Sullivan have a little more in them, and that last week's 3,000-meter race was basically preparation for this week. "We wanted to share the pace," Willis said of himself, Sullivan and Brannen. "It was important to have solid workout." Brannen will also have quite a race in the 1,000-meter run. Representing Canada, he will race' against a formi- dable American team and against two strong opponents - Berhanu Alemu of Ethiopia and Kenya's Nicholas Wachira. The American delegation will include last year's NCAA outdoor 800-meter run champion Sam Burley and 2003 world indoor 800-meter champion David Krummenacker.