The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Friday, March 16, 2007 - 9 PETER SCHOTTENFELS/Daly Sophomore Jack Johnson, who was named the CCHA's Best Offensive Defenseman last night, hopes to end Michigan's winless streak against Michigan State at the Joe. Rivals set to remnatch in Joe FLORIDA STATE 87, MICHIGAN 66 Sunbaked Michigan's season ends in NIT By H. JOSE BOSCH Florida State star forward Al Daily Sports Editor Thornton brought the crowd to life when he followed Har- TALLAHASSEE - The ris's 3-pointers with an alley- Michigan men's basketball oop dunk. From that point on, team's emotional season came the Wolverines failed consis- to an end last night with an 87- tently to take care of the ball, 66 loss to Florida State in the and Florida State (22-12) took second round of the National advantage. Invitational Tournament. With Michigan holding a As the program begins the three-point lead later in the process of preparing for next half, a Harris pass toward the year, it's uncertain how differ- basket bounced off the rim and ent it will look. into the hands of the Semi- Michigan will lose four noles. The turnover allowed starting seniors, and questions Florida State to score and pull abound about Michigan coach within one,19-18. Tommy Amaker's job security. The Wolverines committed a "We're going to keep doing shot-clockviolationonthe next our jobs," Amaker said of him- possession, and the Seminoles self and his staff. "The next made a pair of free throws on step for us is to get back to Ann the ensuing possession to take Arbor, figure out things with their first lead of the game. our current team and then look Michigan never led again. at recruiting and then move on The Wolverines held Thorn- in that direction." ton under his season average, The game was already in but allowed five other players hand when Florida State's Uche to score in double digits. Flor- Echefu hit a 3-pointer to end ida State guards Isaiah Swann the first half and an 18-7 run by and Toney Douglas led all scor- the Seminoles. ers with 15 points a piece. "They had the momentum Harris and Abram paced going throughout the last half the Wolverines with 15 and 14 of the first half, and then they points, respectively. came out in the second half and With the season finished, the stepped the momentum up," four seniors have an opportu- Harris said. "We got behind nity to reflect on their careers. and we weren't able to recov- And despite the roller-coaster' 1 er." ride, it'll be the good moments For most of the first frame, that will stay with them. Michigan (22-13) was competi- "I just look back on my four tive and physical. years and think about the fun With bodies continuously times," senior forward Brent crashing to the ground, the Petway said. "Once you're done Wolverines built a 16-8 lead with your career, there will be after back-to-back 3-pointers some times that will linger in from senior guard Dion Harris. your head, but you don't want But after Harris's shots, Mich- to think about the worst times, igan began to lose its momen- you want to think about the tum and unraveled in front of time you had fun on the court APPHOTO the 6,033 screaming fans at the and off the court with the Freshman Ekpe Udoh and the rest of the Wolverines struggled to stop Florida State Donald L. Tucker Center. guys." all night. The Seminoles had five players reach double digits Petway questions team's effort following season-ending loss By NATE SANDALS Daily Sports Writer it's been a long time since No. 9 Michigan last beat No.11 Michigan State at Joe Louis Arena. How long? Try 1,476 days. March 1, 2003. Michigan Nineteen days at CCHA before the Iraq War began. Tournament And it's not for lack of opportu- Matchup: nities. In seven Michigan State tries since then, 21-12-3; Michi Michigan is 0- gan 25-12-1 4-3. When: That means 8:05 p.m. no current Wol- Where: Joe verine player Louis Arena has defeated the Spartans in TV/Radio: Hockeytown. FSN Detroit/ Once again, WTKA 1050 Michigan must get past Michi- gan State at Joe Louis Arena to continue its path toward a CCHA Tournament championship. Despite recent history, you couldn't find any disappointed faces at practice this week. "If you're going to win the CCHA playoffs, you've got to beat Michigan State," sophomore Jack Johnson said. "There's no better way to do it." Tonight's semifinal matchup will be the sixth meeting between the intrastate rivals this season. The season-long bout is current- ly tied, each team with a 2-2-1 record. With such an extensive history, it's hard to keep any secrets. "We know their team and they know our team," said Michigan coach Red Berenson, who has led the Wolverines to 18 consecutive CCHA semifinals. "Each team knows the other team can beat them." The squads last met on Feb. 10. And while the final score was 3-3, Michigan came out looking like the better team. Down by three midway through the second period, the Wolverines went on a tear. Freshman Chris Summers scored twice and then assisted on sophomore Andrew Cogliano's game-tying goal with less than two minutes remaining. There was little doubt that if the game could have continued past the five-minute overtime, Michi- gan (18-9-1 CCHA, 25-12-1 overall) would have broken its streak at the Joe. "We had numerous chances to capitalize and win that game," senior captain Matt Hunwick said. "We didn'tgetitdone. But (tonight) there will be no ties, so if it takes 80 minutes to play, we will." Whether tonight's game goes the regulation 60 minutes or lon- ger, the winner will play for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tour- nament against the winner of the other semifinal game (No. 1 Notre Dame vs. Lake Superior State), at 7 p.m Saturday. Though both Michigan and Michigan State (15-10-3, 21-12-3) appear to have sewn up bids for the NCAA Tournament, the results of this weekend's games will affect seeding and which region each is placed in. While it's comforting to know the season will probably continue past this weekend, the Wolverines don't want to back into the NCAA Tournament. "We have a chance of control- ling our destiny by winning our games," Berenson said. NOTES: Four Wolverines picked up hardware at last night's CCHA Awards Ceremony. Defensemen Jack Johnson and Matt Hunwick grabbed Best Offensive and Best Defensive Defensemen awards, respectively. It's just the fourth time back liners from the same team have each won defensemen awards in the same season. ... Tim Cook was the recipient of the Ilitch Humanitarian award. ... T.J. Hensick officially won the CCHA's scoring title, but came up short in the Player of the Year voting to Notre Dame goaltender David Brown. By H. JOSE BOSCH Daily Sports Editor TALLAHASSEE - Senior forward Brent Petway, the vocal leader of the Michigan men's basketball team, was not pleased with the effort his teammates gave during last night's loss to Florida State. "I thought we were a little casual with the (ball)," Petway said. "And I thought at a couple of times we weren't playing too hard. There were some people that weren't giving us their maximum effort despite people try- ing to tell others (to play harder)." Petway was then asked how a team with so many veterans could exert less-than-maxi- mum effort. "I can't really express (why it happened)," Petway said. "To each his own, I guess. You try to be a good teammate and tell them to pick it up and sometimes they just don't want to do it. What can you do?" Fellow senior Dion Harris disagreed. "I didn't notice anything," Harris said. "I thought that everybody, for the most part, played hard and tried to give it their all." THEIR OWN WORST ENEMY: Whether it was a result of effort or poor execution, the Wolverines shot themselves in the foot numerous times in the first half, even though they had chances to build on some early momentum. When the Seminoles pulled within two points early in the game, Harris hit two con- secutive 3-pointers to give Michigan its big- gest lead of the night, 16-8. And with the Wolverines trailing 23-21 with just under five minutes to play in the first half, Harris tied the game with a jumper. But even Harris on a good day couldn't save the Wolverines from themselves. After that game-tying jumper, Michigan commit- ted three first-half turnovers which resulted in an Isaiah Swann 3-pointer, an Al Thornton layup and a Thornton dunk. All three plays brought the crowd to its feet and put the Wol- verines into a deeper hole. "We gave them a lot of things in transi- tion," Harris said. "We turned the ball over and they're a great transition team, and that's what they did. They were able to get layups and dunks, and knock some (3-point- ers) down." Despite shooting 52 percent from the floor in the first half (50 percent from beyond the arc), Michigan's 10 turnovers to just three assists ultimately doomed the team. The Wolverines' shooting in the second half didn't help. Their field-goal shooting dropped to 32 percent, and they committed 11 more turnovers. "We turned the ball over a lot from our perimeter players and we weren't able to ini- tiate offense because of (Florida State's) pres- sure," Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said. "When those things happen, it's a formula for disaster, especially on the road." NOTES: Last night's contest not only marked senior Courtney Sims' final game for the Wolverines. It was also his 132nd straight game, meaning Sims has played in every single game since joining the team. ... Last night's meeting between Michigan and Florida State wasn't the first time the two schools have met in the National Invita- tional Tournament. The Wolverines defeated the Seminoles 82-73 in the 1997 NIT finals. But because of NCAA sanctions, Michigan's win and championship were struck from its records. ... Michigan's record on the road dropped to 2-7 this season. Excited for the CCHA playoffs? 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