GENNARO FILICE
The tide has changed
the past two years for
Illinois and Michigan.
PAGE 3B
The SportsMonday Column
RIvAL TIFs
Michigan senior captain Ryan
Bertin and Illinois's Alex Tirapelle
continued their rivalry yesterday.
PAGE 6B
SPORTS OND
February 7, 2005
lB
E ipr tttt ti1
Fit to be tied
MICHIGAN 2, MICHIGA \N STATE 2
MICHIGAN 1, MICHIGAN
STATE 1
For 55 minutes each night,
Montoya can't be beat
...
ETROIT - With 10 minutes left in Saturday's game
and Michigan clinging to a one-goal lead, I took a look
around Joe Louis Arena at
those fans wearing the Maize and
Blue. Like you might expect after
Friday's collapse, the confidence level
appeared pretty low.r
Looking around the hallway
known as the arena's press box, the
atmosphere buzzed with anticipation.
The night before, most of the writers IAN HERBERT
had put away their notebooks, started
packing their computers and, in some Caught up in the Game
cases, had their stories mostly written
before the Spartans stole a point from
Michigan in the last two minutes. On Saturday, every one was
on the edge of their seats.
So why is everyone watching the CCHA's first-place team
assuming that they're not going to hold the lead? Six times
this season, the Wolverines have entered the third period with
a shutout. Only twice have they kept it. A team with as many
great players as Michigan shouldn't have this problem.
Michigan State didn't have as many great players as Michi-
gan, but it didn't need them. The Spartans' goalie Dominic
Vicari was more than just a great player this weekend -he
was a superstar. With six seconds left in Saturday's game,
freshman Chad Kolarik shot a one-timer at the Spartans' net
that Vicari managed to get a blocker on. You could call it lucky.
The night before, Montoya gave up the game-tying goal with
1.2 seconds left. On a centering pass from Jim Slater, the puck
hit off a skate and fell on Drew Miller's stick. Miller buried the
shot before Montoya had a chance to move. You could call it
unlucky. On Saturday, with 3:20 left, Montoya made two good
saves in traffic but left the second rebound open for Jim McK-
enzie to backhand into the net. You could call it unlucky. Then,
as time ran out in overtime, Tambellini fired a shot at Vicari in
traffic. Vicari made the save, controlled the rebound and stifled
See HERBERT, page 4B
... but valuable points elude
Icers late in third period
By Ryan A. Sosin
Daily Sports Writer
DETROIT - With a shutout still
looming for Michigan goalie Al Mon-
toya in a 1-0 game - and only four
minutes remaining on the clock - it
seemed only a matter of time before
Michigan State put a goal in the net.
After all, four of the six times that the
Wolverines have carried a shutout into
the third stanza this season, their oppo-
nents have found a way to at least chip
into their lead. During Friday's 2-2 tie,
and 1-1 final on Saturday, Michigan
didn't have the comfort of a big margin
and the Wolverines ended up blowing
leads on back-to-back nights.
Michigan coach Red Berenson said
that it will all come together soon
enough and those games will eventu-
ally fall into the win column. In the
meantime, the second-place Ohio State
Buckeyes have pulled to within one
point of the Wolverines in the CCHA
standings.
"At the end of the year, you can learn
from experiences like this, or this can
be the death of you," senior captain Eric
Nystrom said. "You can be out of the
playoffs by not being able to capitalize
on a team that's down. And that's some-
thing that we'll have to see."
Michigan State appeared to have
scored first on Saturday when Bryan
Lerg chopped at a puck that floated
over Montoya and in the net mid-
way through the first period. But the
goal was quickly waved off because
Spartan Tommy Goebel batted it in
with his hand.
Nystrom got the Wolverines on the
board first. Early in the second period,
freshman Kevin Porter laid a pass over
Jared Nightingale's stick to Nystrom
who simply tapped the puck past the
right pad of a sliding Spartan goalie
Dominic Vicari. The goal wastihe 50th
of Nystrom's career.
In the third, as if the script had
already been written, the Spartans
knotted the game up at one. With just
over three minutes remaining, Montoya
See SPARTANS, page 4B
TONY DING/Daily
Befitting the weekend outcomes, Michigan forward Jeff Tambellini and Michigan State defenseman Tyler Howells get tied up as
they chase the puck Friday night at Yost Ice Arena.
In 4:30 flat, Blue falls to Ohio State
By Megan Kolodgy
Daily Sports Editor
COLUMBUS - A lot can happen in four and
a half minutes.
Unfortunately, for the Michigan men's bas-
ketball team, nothing did.
Michigan (3-6 Big Ten, 12-11 overall) did not
make a single basket in the
first four minutes of Satur-'1I
day's game. Finally, a jumper ;
from sophomore Dion Har-
ris put the Wolverines on the
board.
By that point, Ohio State (5-4, 16-7) had
jumped out to an 8-2 lead. After that, the Wol-
verines were already rendered helpless and col-
lapsed into a 72-46 defeat at the hands of the
Buckeyes.
This marked Michigan's sixth straight loss
on a string of significant defeats. The Wolver-
ines came out flat and appeared listless and
a bit dazed as the sold-out crowd made Value
Me Carville
pulls down
City Arena an even more unpleasant place to be
-especially for a team that needs nothing but
the numbers to remind it of how badly it is per-
forming.
"The fact is that we're not very good right now,"
Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said. "That's
probably the understatement of the year."
The game was a statistical nightmare for the
Wolverines. They committed 29 turnovers - 18
in the first half alone - and notched just four
assists. More than half of those who played con-
tributed fewer total points than turnovers, and
sophomore Brent Petway was the only Michigan
player who did not record a turnover.
"It's not so much that they were a pressing
team," Amaker said. "That's obvious when you
watch the game ... For some reason, we're very
shaky with the ball right now."
After the opening five and a half minutes,
Michigan never came within single digits of the
Buckeyes.
Ohio State's offensive production primarily came
from center Terrence Dials's ability to throw his
weight around in the paint, which largely came at
the expense of Michigan center Courtney Sims's
confidence. Dials went 8-for-15 from the field - all
close-range shots -and led the Buckeyes with 19
points. He also went up for nine rebounds. Sims
- who is about 15 pounds lighter than he was when
he began the season - struggled against Dials. This
was particularly true in the first half, when Sims
managed just four points.
Sims found his bearings in the second half.
Despite being excluded from the starting lineup
and was hampered by the shorter, but bulkier,
Dials, he shot 6-for-9 and scored 15 points. He
was the only Wolverine to score in double digits.
Still, he committed four turnovers and grabbed
just four rebounds.
"I talked to my mother, and she said, 'Just
play. Just have fun.' It didn't look like I was hav-
ing fun on the court." Sims said.
The Buckeyes also benefited from balanced
scoring. Guard Tony Stockman came off the
bench for 23 minutes and put up 16 points, while.
See BUCKEYES, page 5B
TOMASSO GOMEZ/Daily
Michigan guard Dion Harris had nine points on 4-for-11shooting on Saturday in the
loss to the Buckeyes. Michigan dropped its sixth straight game.
Solid final routine helps
tumblers eke out win
rebounds,
M'
By Stephanie Wright
Daily Sports Editor
Two minutes into the first half, Minnesota center Janel McCar-
ville snatched the ball from Michigan's Tabitha Pool at midcourt.
McCarville quickly advanced the ball on a_
fast break. With Pool trailing her by 15 feet,
McCarville elevated to attempt a wide-open Mme 5
layup, but the ball clanked against the front
By Katie Niemeyer
Daily Sports Writer
Going into the final rotation on Friday
night tied with No. 3 UCLA, the No. 2
Michigan women's gymnastics team turned
to freshman Katie Lieberman to perform
her first floor routine ever in the Wolver-
ines' lineup.
Lieberman - who was supposed to per-
form an exhibition floor routine against
UCLA - found out a couple of hours
before the meet that she would actually be
were good enough to give the Wolverines the
victory, 196.250-195.250 over UCLA.
"I think we were all very, very excited over
this win," Ray said. "It was a big win for us,
and we even did it with a few mess-ups. So
once everything falls into place, it's going to
be good."
The Wolverines exploded out of the gates
on vault - finishing the event with almost a
full point lead over the Bruins. They posted
three scores of 9.900 or better, combining for
their highest team vault score of the season
(49.425). Deiley won the event with a 9.950,