The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - April 19, 2004 - 7B
Golf struggles in Columbus
With Big Tens on the horizon, performance has Sapp concerned
By Stephanie Wright
Daily Sports Writer
After steady improvement over
the past two tournaments - includ-
ing its best finish in nearly three
seasons on March 28 and a strong
performance against Big Ten com-
petition at the Boilermaker Invita-
tional over the weekend - the
Michigan men's golf team took a
step back last weekend at the
Robert Kepler Intercollegiate in
Columbus.
The Wolverines finished the 54-
hole tournament with a total team
score of 922, placing 14th of 18
teams. With scores of 308 and 311,
respectively, in the first and second
rounds, the Wolverines carded their
highest single-round scores since
early March. The Wolverines have
struggled to bounce back after bad
early scores all season.
"I think often times we get down
on ourselves early and then just
struggle to try to get back," Michi-
gan coach Andrew Sapp said. "When
you're struggling to try to get shots
back, you might make a few risks
you probably shouldn't. And they're
called risks for a reason. Sometimes
you make another double because of
it, trying to get another birdie or try-
ing to fight back."
Unlike previous tournaments,
Michigan responded to poor first-
day play by carding a solid 303
total in the third round, moving up
two places in the final standings.
But much of this improvement can
be attributed to senior Rob Tighe's
season-best 71, rather than to the
team's overall performance.
"Rob kind of bailed us out; he
had a great score," Sapp said.
"That's what made a huge differ-
ence in the final round. We had the
same type of play from everyone
else, but Rob's play today helped us
keep our score low.
"Still, we had to count a pair of
79s, which kept us from having one
of our best rounds of the season and
really moving up in the standings,"
Sapp said.
Xavier won the team title with an
886 total after leading the field
throughout the tournament. Host
Ohio State finished in a tie for third
place, carding a three-round score
of 895.
After defeating three of seven Big
Ten teams two weeks ago, Michigan
beat just one of the nine other Big
Ten teams competing in Columbus
MNOTE
Tennis splits weekend
away from Ann Arbor
Facing the possibility of a 0-2 week-
end, the Michigan women's tennis team
showed resolve in its 4-3 win at Purdue
yesterday.
After losing the doubles point, the
Wolverines managed to win the neces-
sary four singles matches, but it didn't
come easily. Four singles matches went
three sets, with Michigan winning three.
Junior Michelle DaCosta clinched the
victory for the Wolverines, rallying
from a first-set loss to pull out a 3-6, 6-
4, 7-5 win over Purdue's Hala Sufi
Kavitha Tipirneni and Debra Streifler
also pulled out three-set wins, while
Leanne Rutherford was on the losing
end of a third set thriller.
On Saturday No. 27 Michigan (5-3
Big Ten, 14-4 overall) lost at No. 17 Illi-
nois 5-2.
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last weekend - Wisconsin. Sapp
was disappointed with his team's
showing against the Big Ten, partic-
ularly with the conference champi-
onships just three weeks away.
"When you're counting scores in
the low 80s, you're not going to be
able to score low as a team," Sapp
said. "This weekend, part of it was
due to the difficulty of the golf
course. Part of it was not hitting
well. There was also a lot of poor
putting among the guys who scored
in the low 80s."
Michigan's best - and most con-
sistent - play came from freshman
Kevin Dore, who led the Wolver-
ines with a 225 total score. By plac-
ing in a tie for 17th overall, Dore
carded his best finish of the spring
season and finished in the top 20
for the third time.
In order to regain momentum
from the two tournaments before
last weekend, Sapp is counting on
the continued strong play and lead-
ership of Dore and sophomore
Christian Vozza.
"(Dore and Vozza) are obviously
handling it well because they're
doing it week-in and week-out,"
Sapp said. "It's one of those things
where apparently they're getting
comfortable doing it. Fortunately
for us, they've been able to do it the
last three tournaments."
AP PHOTO
Ben Wallace, who scored 17 points to go along with 14 rebounds, was part of a defense that forced the Bucks into 25 turnovers.
Suffocating Pistons 'D' leads to easy win in opener
AUBURN HILLS (AP) - Detroit's
defense completely shut down the Mil-
waukee Bucks.
Richard Hamilton scored 21 points
and the Pistons set a team playoff
record with 14 steals in a 108-82 victo-
ry over the Bucks yesterday in Game 1
of their first-round series.
One of the best defenses in NBA his-
tory stopped the highest scoring team
in the Eastern Conference.
Detroit gave up just 84.3 points a
game this year, the third-lowest scoring
average since the NBA began using a
shot clock during the 1954-55 season.
It set a league record by holding s1
opponents - including five straight
ebunder 70 points, and 36 in a row to
less than 100.
an'I'm real pleased with the way we
played," Pistons coach Larry Brown
said after leading his NBA-record sev-
enth team into the playoffs. "We
Srebounded teball, weshared teball
and we forced them to turn the ball
over, which gives us a chance for some
easy baskets. We had a lot of guys play-
ing great basketball."
The Bucks, who averaged 98 points
a game, also ranked fourth in the
league in scoring. They played four
close regular-season games against
Detroit, losing three of them.
But they didn't play Detroit with
FILE PHOTO Rasheed Wallace, who has made the
Michigan senior Rob Tighe and the rest of the Wolverines saved their best Pistons' stingy defense suffocating
performances yesterday. Tighe carded a season-best 71, and Michigan shot a 303 since being acquired Feb. 19 in a
total In yesterday's third round of play, salvaging a poor start. three-team trade. The Pistons won 20
of 24 games before the playoffs.
Detroit forced 25 turnovers - turn-
ing them into 28 points - and had
eight blocks. The constant defensive
pressure had the Bucks scrambling just
to get their shots off.
When the Pistons led 68-51 midway
through the third, they had more points
off turnovers (10) than Milwaukee had
points (eight) in the quarter.
"The game was all about our
turnovers and the points we gave them
off turnovers," Milwaukee coach Terry
Porter said.
Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is
Wednesday in Detroit.
Desmond Mason led the Bucks with
16 points. Their leading scorer, Michael
Redd, scored just 1i points - nearly
11 below his average - and went more
than 18 minutes without scoring in the
second and third quarters. Joe Smith set
a career playoff high with 11 rebounds,
and scored six points.
"We were rushing things, trying to
get the lead down, and they took
advantage by doing a lot of trapping,"
Redd said. "We didn't handle it and
we've got to find an adjustment for
the next game."
Detroit didn't excel on defense alone.
Rasheed Wallace had 17 points, 10
rebounds and three blocks, Ben Wal-
lace had 17 points, 14 rebounds, and
Tayshaun Prince added 14 points, 11
rebounds and four blocks.
"When you have three guys with
double-doubles, and two of them are
Ben and Rasheed, who can cover the
paint like that, you know you have a
chance to dictate the game," Prince said.
The last time the Pistons had three
players with double-doubles in a play-
off game was against Boston in 1991,
when Isiah Thomas, Dennis Rodman
and Bill Laimbeer did it.
Detroit's Chauncey Billups had 12
points, and reserve Corliss Williamson
added 12.
The game was such a blowout that
"We want Darko!" chants were
heard early in the fourth quarter.
Darko Milicic, the second pick over-
all in the draft, played just 34 games
this season. He scored one point in
three minutes.
The Bucks missed their standout
rookie point guard T.J. Ford, who is
out for the season with a bruised
spinal cord.
Ford's backups, Damon Jones and
Brevin Knight, played well latein the
regular season, but got in foul trouble
trying to defend Detroit's guards and
running the offense.
"We can't worry about who we don't
have:' Porter said
Detroit's in-your-face, full-court
press - led by reserve guards Mike
James and Lindsey Hunter - gave
the Bucks problems early in the sec-
ond quarter. The Pistons forced two
turnovers in 18 seconds, leading to
two baskets, including Ben Wal-
lace's' alley-oop dunk that gave them
a 35-25 lead.
125th ums season - 1 .. "'-
$10 Rush Tickets on sale 9 am-
5 pm the day of the performance or
the Friday before a weekend event
at the UMS Ticket Office, located in
the Michigan League.
50% Rush Tickets on sale
beginning 90 minutes before
the event at the performance
hall Ticket Office.
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v.:
Karita Mattila soprano
Martin Katz piano
Thu 4/22 8 pm
Hill Auditorium
Finnish soprano Karita Mattila is a "Phenomenon!...Her
voice is a complete instrument, a thing of beauty and power."
(New Yorker) Also praised for her extraordinary acting ability,
Ms. Mattila has performed many key operatic roles in the
world's most distinguished opera houses and now makes her
long-awaited UMS debut with U-M professor Martin Katz. Her
program includes works by Duparc, Dvordk, Rachmaninoff
and Sibelius.
Cassandra Wilson and Peter Cincotti
Fri 4/23 8 pm
Hill Auditorium
It's jazz for a new generation! Chart-topping jazz artist
Cassandra Wilson has earned countless media accolades,
including a Grammy Award and the title of America's Best
Singer of 2001 by Time magazine, which lauded, "There is no
more purely and uncontrived female force in our national
music today." Peter Cincotti, no stranger to popular and
critical acclaim himself, was the youngest headliner ever at
the famed Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room in 2002. Cincotti's
debut album, Peter Cincotti, reached *1 on the Billboard
Traditional Jazz chart, and the New York Times praised him as
"Hugely talented...Going on Legend." Wilson and Cincotti will
perform seperate sets in this shared performance of exciting
new jazz!
Rossetti String Quartet
Jean-Yves Thibaudet piano
Sat 4/24 8 pm
Rackham Auditorium
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