Senior Brent Petway blocks a Golden Gopher shot during Saturday's game. Petway's career-high 18 points and numerous hustle plays helped the Wolverines stage a second-half comeback and hold off the lowly Gophers, 82-80, to improve to 5-5 in the Big Ten. MICHIGAN 82, MINNESOTA 80 JUST BARELY C agers eke out win with late comeback By H. JOSE BOSCH Daily Sports Writer Following Saturday's 82-80 win over Minnesota, the jury is still out on Michigan's NCAA Tournament chances. But senior Brent Petway became exhibit A in the tiny pile of evidence supporting the Wolverines. Led by Petway's second-half heroics (16 points and six rebounds), Michigan overcame a nine-point halftime deficit to steal a win and end its four-game losing streak. "It was great to see him get open shots and get our team going," junior Ron Coleman said. "One of the players said we needed a spark and I think Brent took that to heart. He got us going with his offensive production and on the defensive end." Trailingbyfiveinthesecondhalf, Michigan and the Crisler Arena crowd got a shot in the arm when sophomore Jerret Smith lobbed a pass to Petway, who finished the alley-oop with a thunderous slam. After the Gophers responded with a bucket of their own, the McDonough, Ga. native electrified the crowd again when he drove down the baseline and made anoth- er two-handed slam to pull Michi- gan within three, 51-48. Three minutes later the Wol- verines took their third lead of the game when senior Ron Coleman hit an open 3-pointer to make the game 56-55. Michigan held off a late Minne- sota run and relinquished the lead just one more time en route to the win. Petway finished the evening with 18 points and seven rebounds. His performance in the second frame was a surprise considering he had just two points and one rebound going into halftime. And coming off a left knee injury which limited him to two minutes against Ohio State, it appeared Petway was still not ready to comeback. But Amaker thought otherwise. "I never thought (of replacing him), unless he came to me and said he wasn't feeling good or at1100 per- cent," Amaker said. "The thought never crossed my mind to do that. I have confidence in him, and there's nobody that wants to win more on our team than Brent Petway." Following the first half, the Crisler crowd had nothing much to cheer about and the boo birds made an appearance as both teams ran off the court. With a quarter of the stadium empty, the Wolverines struggled to maintain any momentum after opening the game with a bucket off the tip. Untimely turnovers and Minne- sota's guard play kept Michigan at bay, despite 14 first-half points from See GOPHERS, page 3B Look past the late run Everyone wanted to talk about the comeback. Admittedly, the Wolver- ines' response was impressive. It would have been easy to fold in the midst of a four-game losing streak and down by nine at home. Instead, Michigan gutted DANIEL out an 82-80 win BROMWICH behind career performances Broms Away from seniors Brent Petway and Dion Harris. With just two points and one rebound before the half, Petway tallied 16 points and six rebounds See BROMWICH, page 3B Michigan senior Dion Harris attacks the basket for two of his career-high 27 points. Harris kept Michigan afloat in the first half while the rest of his teammates struggled. uick starts for 'M': By NATE SANDALS Daily Sports Writer DETROIT - They fell into the trap, but there was no time for the eighth-ranked Wolverines to wal- low in their NOTEBOOK misery. EB Immedi- ately after losing 3-2 to last-place Bowling Green on Friday night, the Michigan hockey team had to pre- pare for its crucial matchup with No. 6 Michigan State at Joe Louis Arena less than 24 hours later. Everyone wondered: How could Michigan bounce back quickly after apotentially cripplingloss? "We've just got to work a lot harder than we did tonight," senior captain Matt Hunwick said Friday night. And the Wolverines did just that. Michigan dominated playinthe first See STARTS, page 3B WE'S SW:1-MMING AND DIVING Blue good for second place BENJI DELL/Daly Michigan sophomore Tim Miller fights for a loose puck in Michigan's come-from-behind 3-3 tie with Michigan State on Saturday. Three in a row lea to ti~e By JAMES V. Dowd in a 3-2 upset by last place Bowling lead, the Spartans reinstated the Daily Sports Writer Green (6-24-2, 4-19-1 CCHA) on the same defense that shut down Mich- ------.._road Friday, it seemed that a run at igan in the GLI Championship DETROIT - If the way a hockey the Mason Cup was far-fetched for game on Dec. 30. team finishes games is critical to the Wolverines. But on Saturday But this time, the Wolverines postsea-- - night, visions of playoff victories made up their mind that the out- son suc- MICHIGAN 3 returned as the team battled back come would be different. cess, it's MICHIGAN STATE 3 from a three-goal deficit to earn a "I knew that players like me had hard to 3-3 tie against No. 6 Michigan State to step it up," sophomore Andrew say where No. 9 Michigan (21-10-1, (18-8-3, 14-6-3 CCHA) at Joe Louis Cogliano said. "We needed to do a 16-7-1 CCHA) is headed. Arena. good job in the third period and to After surrendering two late goals Having amassed a three-goal See SPARTANS, page 3B By DAVID RUSSELL Daily Sports Writer It's said that no one remem- bers who came in second. But for some members of the Michigan women's swimming: and diving team, the Big Ten- Championships will be memo- rable for their individual perfor- mances. After the second day of the three-day championships, held at Minnesota's University Aquatic Center the Wolverines were in third place behind even- tual champion Indiana and Penn State. The third day began with sophomore Emily Brunemann swimming to a school record of 16:10.70 in the 1,650-yard free- style, good for second place. Two events later, senior Lind- sey Smith won the 100-yard free- style, allowing Michigan to be in contention for second place overall going into the final race of the meet. The race, the 400- yard freestyle relay, was almost a sure thing for the Wolverines. But would it be enough to pass Penn State? Smith swam the anchor leg of the race, as she, senior Kait- lyn Brady, freshman Margaret Kelly and sophomore sister Han- nah Smith won the race a full second ahead of Indiana's relay team. The Penn State relay was disqualified, and the Wolverines were able to vault them to second place overall. "It is a nice way to end my Big Ten career with a great meet," said Smith, who won Swimmer of the Championships. Smith was on the winningside of four races at the three-day event, taking individual titles in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle and contributing to the winning relays in the aforementioned 400-yard freestyle. She also won the 200-yard freestyle with the same teammates. All four members of the relay teams were named first-team All See BIG TENS, page 3B Go online for hoops, water polo, softball and track coverage michigandaily.com Herman: Reinventing 'life or death' SM COLUMN 2B j