Michigan
Wayne State (ex)
Veterans Lead Michigan to Exhibition Win Over Warriors
11/1/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- With two newcomers in the starting lineup, the Wolverine upperclassmen stepped up to lead the University of Michigan men's basketball team to a 79-68 exhibition victory over the Wayne State Warriors on Friday (Nov. 1) at Crisler Arena. Junior Bernard Robinson Jr. (Washington, D.C./New Hampton Prep, N.H.) led the Wolverine effort with 18 points and nine rebounds and senior LaVell Blanchard (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS) also had a solid performance with 18 points, seven rebounds and five steals.
| | Abram had 13 points and seven boards in his debut. |
Both teams were sluggish at the start and Wayne State took advantage by jumping out to an early 11-4 lead thanks to a 9-0 run. With his first basket as a Wolverine, Graham Brown (Mio, Mich./Mio-AuSable HS) stopped that Warrior run and broke Michigan out of a five-minute scoring drought with his bucket at 13:38.
Groninger continued the Wolverine comeback by knocking down a three-pointer that cut the Warrior lead to four, 15-11, with 10:43 to go in the first half. He then sparked the U-M defense with a steal to give the Maize and Blue possession again. A Hunter free throw followed by Queen's triple knotted the score at 15 with 8:43 to play in the half.
The Wolverines took their first lead of the game since the score was 4-2 early in the contest with Brown's putback with 7:14 left to play in the half and never looked back. That bucket led to an 8-1 run for the Wolverines as they took a 23-18 lead. A Blanchard three at 2:16 pushed the U-M lead to double digits and they headed into halftime with a nine-point advantage, 40-31.
The Warriors came out hot in the second half, cutting the U-M lead to five after only five minutes of action, but after a Wolverine timeout, freshman Daniel Horton (Cedar Hill Texas/Cedar Hill HS) found Blanchard for an alley-oop dunk to get the U-M offense going. That play along with Abram's three-pointer on the Wolverines' next trip down the floor put the Maize and Blue back up by 10.
Wayne State continued to hang around, going on an 8-0 run that cut the U-M lead to 50-48, but the run was stopped by a pair of Groninger free throws with 12 minutes remaining in the game. Both teams went on trading buckets, keeping the Maize and Blue lead in single digits, but the Wolverines extended their advantage to 11, 73-62, on a Blanchard layin with 3:06 to play. That ultimately was the final margin as the two teams played evenly for the rest of the contest.
The Wolverines will next be in action when they take on Nike Elite in another exhibition game on Friday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m. at Crisler Arena.
Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423
