Thursday . February 24, 2005 sports.michigandaily.com sports@michigandaily.com PORTS 5A . .... . .... Cagers finally break streak By Eric Ambinder Daily Sports Editor Dani Wohl played his heart out. Amadou Ba played - much to the crowd's pleasure - and scored. Dion Harris and Ron Coleman were lava. And when it was over, a huge rush of warm air flowed from Crisler Arena last night. Michigan exhaled for the first time in over a month - a 63-48 victory over Penn State. "It's been a while since we could celebrate in the locker room - to sing The Victors," Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said. "And our kids, they earned it. I thought they deserved it." With the win, Michigan (4-10 Big Ten, 13-15 overall) snapped a 10-game losing streak - it's longest skid since the 1981-82 season. Penn State (1-12, 7- 19) lost its eighth consecutive game. "We are excited," guard Sherrod Harrell said. "We got a win. That was a monkey we were trying to fight off our back, and we finally got one. So we feel really good about it." Guard Dion Harris played his best game of the year, shooting 10-for-15 from the floor and tying a career- high with 24 points. Harris hit from all over the court - deep 3-pointers, runners in the lane and short tear- drops. He also dished out six assists, including a self-called play - off an inbounds pass - to Brent Petway for an alley-oop. "You can't say enough about what Dion did." Amaker said. "The rhythm he was in was terrific. He carried our team. Dion's play was the difference in the game." Guard Ron Coleman, who added 16 points and grabbed five boards, knocked down four 3-pointers in the first half, giving Michigan a 36-26 lead at intermission. Coleman credited his production to Harris. "He drew a lot of attention," Cole- YESTERDAY'S GAME Penn State 48 FG FT REB MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS Claxton 38 4-14 3-5 3-6 1 4 12 Parker 23 0-1 2-2 0-2 3 4 2 Johnson 33 3-5 3-7 6-10 1 2 9 Luber 26 3-4 0-0 0-2 1 2 7 Morrissey 29 5-11 0-0 0-0 2 1 14 Walker 27 1-5 1-2 0-1 3 1 3 McDougald 10 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 Hassell 14 0-0 1-2 0-2 1 3 1 TEAM 0-5 Totals 200 16-4010-18 9-28 1419 48 FG%: .400 FT%: .556 3-point FG: 6-18, ,333 (Morrisset 4-9, Luber 1-2, Claxton 1-2, Parker 0-1). Blocks: 3 (McDougald 2, Claxton). Steals: 6 (McDougald 2, Claxton, Johnson, Luber, Walker). Turn- overs: 16 (Walker 3, Johnson 3, Luber 3, Claxton 3, Hassell 2, Parker, McDou- gald). Technical fouls: None. MICHIGAN 63 After a long month, it's nice to finally see smiles at Crisler You would think breaking a 10-game losing streak would be reason for celebration. And it is. But Michigan's 63-48 victory over Penn State last night was actually filled with bittersweet moments. Everything from sophomore Dion Harris's 24 points and six assists all the way down to the little things like the Michigan Dance Team's senior farewell at halftime was enough to leave just a little twinge of sadness to go along with the joy of any Michigan fan. Enough to leave plenty of sad questions. Shouldn't this team still be in Tournament contention? JOSH HOLMAN Why couldn't Dion have played Part Icon Whole Man like this all year? How has the, l Dance Team been able to smile through this entire season? A better question might be, how has anyone been able to keep smiling this season? It's certainly been a roller coaster of emotions for the Wol- verines to ride since the streak began. Conveniently enough, their last win came against the Nittany Lions in State College on Jan. 15. If that seems like a long time ago, it was. Back then, Michigan still had a chance at making the NCAA Tournament, sitting with a record of 12-5 and 3-0 in the Big Ten. It had just picked up its second conference road win of the season, matching its total from the year before. The drama that would be Daniel Horton's indefinite suspen- sion wasn't even a blip on the radar screen yet. Today, the Wolverines have a 13-15 record (4-10 Big Ten) and are still waiting for that third conference road win. The Wolverines have actually been losing so long that the Horton matter has surfaced, blown up and settled down, all in one month. So in the shadow of a tumultuous season that no one could ever imagine, the Wolverines found a reason to be genuinely happy. They won a basketball game. "For what we've been through and particularly what our kids have gone through, they should feel good," Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said. "They should be able to enjoy this and finish it off the right way." It's really the only joy the Wolverines can muster up at this point of a long, dismal season. No one can lie and say that this season can still be salvaged. It can't. A few more wins might make Michigan eligible for the Postseason NIT, but it already has one of those banners. Would another NIT Championship somehow turn this season into a success? Not at all. The only thing Michigan had to play for last night was a win over Penn State. It might sound cliche, but the Wolverines were playing for pride. And you can't criticize a team that plays with a little bit of pride. "When you stop thinking about all the other stuff and start thinking about internally your own pride, you feel a little bit better about yourself," sophomore Brent Petway said. "You play a lot looser and a lot harder." They played the way junior Dani Wohl and Amadou Ba played last night - the way Wohl and Ba have played all season. Wohl has been a spot player off the bench for Michigan this year, but, last night, he (almost) scrapped his way into school history by collecting six steals, just one shy of the school record. "I was just trying to come off the bench, give us a spark and provide defensive energy and intensity and handle the ball," Wohl said. "Those are two of my absolutes." Ba plays even less. He has appeared in just 10 career games, all coming in the final moments of blowouts. The 6-foot-10 center has little chance to offer the team anything but vocal support, which he provides plenty of. Pride is the reason he is here, and he swells with it. "The motivating force is to play for Michigan," Ba said. "This community and these students do it all for us. This insti- tution is our school. I really love all of these guys in this locker room. Those students made their support for Ba obvious last night, chanting his name until he entered the game, cheering each time he touched the ball and roaring when he finally scored two points on a goaltending call with 55 seconds remaining in the game. The outburst of unbridled joy was just enough to give the fans something to feel good about as they left. This season may be tainted by disappointment, but - at least for one night - the Wolverines just got to feel good about winning a basket- ball game. Josh Holman would feel about good about winning anything, much less a basketball game. He can be reached at holmanj@umich.edu. SHUBRA OHRI/Daily Dion Harris tied a career high with 24 points on 10-for-15 shooting, as the Wolverines won their first game since Jan. 15. man said. "By him driving and kicking it out to me, I knocked down the open shots." The Wolverines were able to limit Penn State forward Aaron Johnson to six first-half points, mostly by denying the Nittany Lions any interior passing. On the final possession before the half, Wohl - who had six steals in the game - penetrated into the Nit- tany Lions' interior and lobbed a per- fectly placed shot - err, pass - to Petway, who finished the play on the fly right before the halftime buzzer sounded. It was an opportunistic assist for Wohl, who signed more autographs than usual for fans after the game. "I thought Dani played a real big part (of the victory)," injured wing Les- ter Abram said. "He pressured the ball on defense, and that's where it started, with our defense. And carried over throughout the whole game." Said Harris: "Dani's play was big for us. He pressured the ball. He harassed the other team's point guard and came up with some steals. He made plays on the offensive end also." Michigan built upon its 10-point halftime lead by limiting Penn State guard Danny Morrissey to just one sec- ond-half basket, after the guard scored 11 in the first. The Wolverines also maintained lots of on-the-ball pressure on the Nit- tany Lion guards and limited Penn State - the best offensive rebound- ing team in the Big Ten - to 28 total rebounds. Amaker said he never discussed the possibility of Michigan tying a school record for consecutive losses (11) with his team before the game. "(The win) was huge," Wohl said. "We needed (a win) in the worst way, in any way possible. Hopefully, we can build off this." Despite the two teams' combined 17-game losing streak coming into the game, it was the Wolverines, not the Nittany Lions, who played with pride. w4 RYAN WEINER/Daily Junior Graham Brown pitched in with nine points in the blowout win over Penn State. . ...... .... INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS Coleman Sims Brown Harris Harrell Andrews Petway Mathis Wohl Ba Bell TEAM FG FT MIN M-A M-A 33 5-13 2-2 17 0-2 0-0 25 3-5 3-6 36 10-15 2-3 17 1-5 0-0 5 0-2 0-0 22 2-4 4-4 14 0-0 0-0 27 0-0 2-2 2 1-1 0-2 2 0-0 0-0 REB 0-T 1-5 0-3 2-5 0-3 0-0 0-0 4-5 1-4 1-1 0-0 0-0 A 0 0 1 6 1 0 1 0 4 0 1 F 3 4 2 0 1 2 2 2 3 0 0 PTS 16 0 9 24 2 0 8 0 2 2 0 University of Wisconsin-Platteville Study Abroad Programs AUSTRALIA Sydney CHINA Beijing ENGLAND London FRANCE Grenoble Paris IRELAND Dublin ITALY Padova PERU Ayacucho & Lima Totals 200 22-4713-1910-28 141963 FG%: .468 FT%: .684 3-point FG: 6-19, :316 (Coleman 4-9, Harris 2-5, Sims 0-1, Harrell 0-2, Andrews 0-2). Blocks: 1 (Pet- way) Steals: 9 (Wohl 6, Harris 2, Harrell). Turnovers: 11 (Harris 2, Coleman, Sims, Brown, Harrell, Andrews, Petway, Mathis, Wohl). Technical fouls: None. Penn State................ 26 22 - 48 Michigan....... ....r36 27 - 63 At: Crisler Arena Attendance: 11,343 This is B.U. This could be you. STUDY ABROAD SUMMER 2005 !fr'K o" A TYPO,. London, Fiji, Rome, Nagasaki, Seville * Courses in liberal arts and international business " No prior knowledge of foreign language required INTERNSHIPS LANGUAGE f #