Michigan
Penn State
Wolverines Hold On to Beat Nittany Lions in OT
2/19/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Wolverines used a balanced offensive attack to counter a monster performance from Penn State's Jarrett Stephens, who scored 33 points on 15-of-20 shooting while grabbing 18 rebounds. Michigan had four players score in double digits, led by Kevin Gaines (Las Vegas, Nev./Clark HS) with 17. Gaines, who played a career-high 43 minutes -- the third time this season he's played at least 40 minutes in a contest -- also dished out six assists and pulled down four boards.
Wolverines Brandon Smith (Amarillo, Texas/Palo Duro HS) and Chris Young (Plymouth, Mich./Catholic Central HS) both recorded career highs with 16 and 13 points, respectively. LaVell Blanchard (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS) was steady as usual for the Wolverines with 16 points and 11 rebounds for his sixth career double-double.
The overtime session was tight throughout with neither team enjoying more than a two-point advantage. After a pair of Joe Crispin free throws tied the game at 82-82, Stephens converted a layup to give Penn State (13-10, 5-7 Big Ten) its first lead, 84-82, since a 12-11 advantage in the first half. But Leon Jones (Grand Rapids, Mich./Winchendon Prep), who scored five of Michigan's nine points in the overtime, knocked down a three from the right wing to put the Wolverines back on top, 85-84 with 3:08 on the clock.
Following a PSU turnover, Jones connected on one-of-two free throws. Penn State tied the game on Stephens' jumper, but Blanchard put the Wolverines up for good with a put back at 1:32. Tyler Smith had an opportunity to re-tie the score, but he missed the back end of two free throws and then Penn State missed a pair of layups in the final 58 seconds. Jones made one-of-two free throws with 4.8 seconds to close the scoring, and the Wolverines prevented the Lions from getting off a final shot.
Due to inclement weather in Pennsylvania, the Nittany Lions did not arrive in Michigan until Saturday afternoon, delaying the scheduled start of the game to 2:30 p.m. from the original start time of 12:17 p.m. The delay did not seem to affect the Wolverines as Michigan started strong, using a balanced team effort in putting together its most productive half in almost a month en route to a 44-27 halftime lead.
The Wolverines had six players score at least six first-half points as they put together their most productive 20-minute offensive display since scoring 44 points at Iowa on Jan. 22, and U-M entered the halftime break with a lead for the first time since that Iowa game. The 17-point lead at the break was the team's largest since the third game of the season, when Michigan led Western Michigan by 20 points at the half.
Michigan drained its first three field goal attempts, including three-pointers by Gavin Groninger (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield HS), who finished up with eight points in a career-most 36 minutes, and Gaines while holding Penn State without a field goal attempt in building a 9-0 advantage 2:00 into the game. However the Lions called a timeout and regrouped, rattling off an 8-0 run of their own to bring the score to 9-8 before taking a short-lived 12-11 lead.
But a Brandon Smith defensive rebound and fast break sprint-out for a layup put the Wolverines back on top and started a 33-12 Michigan stretch run to claim control of the game. The string included six consecutive points by Young to bring the game from 23-16 to 29-16, and seven straight points from Blanchard to push the Wolverine lead to 36-19. After U-M went up by 20 points (44-24) on two Smith free throws, Penn State hit three of four charities to close out the half's scoring, 44-27.
The Lions used the three points before the half to start 32-16 run into the middle of the second half, bringing Penn State back into the game, 60-56. Penn State, 0-of-5 from three-point range in the first half, knocked down two threes to start the second half and rattled off 7-0 and 5-0 runs in bringing the game within four points. A Smith layup and a Young free throw pushed the Wolverine lead back up to seven points, 63-56. However, Penn State, which shot 8-of-16 from three-point range during the second stanza, drilled a pair of threes to bring the score to 65-64.
Moments later, with the score 74-73 Michigan, Penn State appeared to take its second lead of the game, but Josh Asselin (Caro, Mich./Caro HS), who ended the game with eight points on 2-of-3 shooting, blocked a layup attempt and Gaines hit one of two free throws at the other end to put the Wolverines up 75-73. After a defensive stop, Gaines converted an acrobatic, double-pump layup to extend the lead to four points. But missed free throws -- the front end of a one-and-one and one-of-two on the next trip -- opened the door for PSU, which converted a pair of layups to bring the score to 78-77 with 1:40 remaining in the game.
Young's baby hook put the Wolverines back up three, but Michigan left Tyler Smith wide open for the game-tying three with 1:05 left in the game. After Michigan failed to convert on the offensive end, Penn State had the game in its hands with the ball and only 30 seconds left, but Joe Crispin stepped on the baseline during his drive to give the Wolverines the ball back with 6.2 seconds. However, Blanchard's 25-footer at the buzzer caught the front of the rim and bounced out, sending the game to overtime, 80-80.
Michigan will be looking for a season sweep of Purdue when the Boilermakers come to town on Thursday (Feb. 24) for a 7 p.m. game. The Wolverines defeated Purdue 88-86 in double overtime on Jan. 8 in West Lafayette, Ind.
Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423
