fri I 4 1 31 Union-News, Monday, January 28, 2002 D12 SPORTS Winning attitude returns for Minutemen en Several players contribute during UMass' streak By RON CHIMELIS Staff writer AMHERST As the University of Massachusetts men's basketball struggled through a five-game losing streak earlier this month, 'coach Steve Lappas was asked about the idea of bringing in a team psychologist for a team that had forgotten how to win. Lappas generally doesn't go for Such approaches, but at the time, he seemed willing to consider almost anything. That was before the current three-game winning streak, though, and after Saturday night's 67-65 victory at St. Bonaventure, he was asked why things. are suddenly going right again for UMass (9-8, 3-3 Atlantic 10).
think it's because we're getting contributions from a lot of guys," Lappas said watching his team outscore the Bonnies 12-3 in the final 6:08. "When we were losing, the only guy showing up was (guard) Shannon Crooks. "In this game, though, Anthony Anderson (11 points) played a strong game, and Kit Rhymer (23 points) was tremendous," Lappas said. "Brennan Martin gave us a lift. And Shannon is still there." And that winning attitude? "I think it's been there for three games," Lappas said.
"I like what I see." "It goes back to the Temple game (a 63-53 win Jan. 19)," Brennan Martin said forward Brennan Martin Micah Brand, who scored the winning basket with 9.2 seconds left Saturday night. "That's always a tough game, just like it's always a battle at St. Bonaventure. But we fought through it and kept our heads." Martin was a pleasant surprise.
Scoreless and seldom-used all season, he scored his first nine college points Saturday, all on 3-point shooting. This UMass season has been played out in four distinct stages. First came a 4-0 start, followed by an up-and-down 2-3 stretch, the five losing streak and now another winning streak. SWEET VICTORY Thomas Johansson of Sweden kisses the winner's trophy as he celebrates his victory in the men's singles final at the Australian Open in Melbourne yesterday. Johansson beat Marat Safin of Russia 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6.
Swede enjoys Slam triumph Thomas Johansson won his first Grand Slam final with a 4-set win over Marat Safin in the surprising men's final. Associated Press about to draw crowds. "I'm playing tennis pretty good," he said. "But as a person I'm not MELBOURNE, Australia Maybe this was fitting. In a tourna- really so, fancy." all in all, Johansson was ment that set records for early And exits by top stars, Thomas Johans- of an the 2002 all-too-appropriate Australian Open.
champion son wound up as one This was a tournament in which unlikely Grand Slam champion. the top five seeded men were elimThe 26-year-old Swede was supposed to be a bit player at the Aus- inated halfway through the had second never tralian Open. Instead, he walks round, something before at a that Grand Slam away with the title. event. happened the.
more established Marat Safin Johansson faced only two Johansson, seeded 16th, beat 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (4) yesterday in a ed players No. 21 Younes Novak El Ayfinal lasting nearly 3 hours. naoui and No. 26 Jiri on two weeks have been the his way to the final. best two weeks of my life," he said.
In Johansson's half of the draw, "Today was just a dream come No. 2 Gustavo Kuerten lost in the true. It was unbelievable. I don't first round, No. 4 Yevgeny Kafelhave the words to say how happy I nikov and No.
5 Sebastien jean lost in the second round, and How unexpected was Johans- No. 6 Tim Henman lost in the son's triumph? fourth round. In 24 previous Grand Slam The field was further depleted tournaments, he never had ad- with No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, weakvanced beyond the quarterfinals ened by chicken pox, losing in the (1998, 2000 U.S. Opens).
first round. and defending champiHe came into the Australian on Andre Agassi dropping out on Open with a total of six career ti- the eve of the tournament with a tles since turning pro in 1994. wrist injury. In his final warmup event be- But none of that matters to Jofore the Australian Open, at Syd- hansson. He did what he had to, ney, Johansson lost in the first and the title belongs to him, after round to Julien Boutter, who's not outlasting 2000 U.S.
Open champieven ranked in the top 50. on Safin, a Russian seeded ninth. Johansson made a point last "You cannot compare anything week of acknowledging that he's to this," said Johansson, who not the most dynamic personality started playing tennis at age 5 in in the game. his hometown of Linkoping, 2 "Look at me, I'm not that inter- hours from Stockholm. "You've esting," he after his quarterfinal seen it on TV.
But I never knew win over countryman Jonas Bjork- was going to stand there at the man. "If you color your hair red court today." and you act a little bit different, Johansson became the first then you're interesting." Swede to win the Australian Open Johansson finished 2001 ranked since Mats Wilander in 1988, and 18th making him Sweden's top the first to win a Grand Slam sinplayer after winning two tourna- gles title since Stefan Edberg at ments. Still, he knew he wasn't the 1992 U.S. Open. 4 UMass is showing the same confidence and balance it exhibited during its 4-0 start.
The defense held St. Bonaventure 20 points below its season average, and didn't allow a field goal for the final 6:53. The UMass offense committed 20 turnovers, but only seven in the second half. "Our young guys needed a half to acclimate themselves and get in the flow of the game," Lappas said. The Minutemen are also doing a better job of listening.
Forward Raheim Lamb's game-saving defensive play was an example. "We've been getting killed all year, going for pump fakes," Lappas. "Before the last play, we told the guys not to go for the fakes." As the Bonnies' J.R. Bremer. went up for the game's final shot, Lamb resisted the temptation to leave his feet.
Instead, Bremer found himself awkwardly trying to lean into Lamb for a foul call that never came, and Lamb blocked his shot. Lamb's heads-up, feet-down play impressed Crooks. Both are from Boston and have played AAU basketball together. "We told Raheim to stay down on the shot," Crooks said. "He's a tough kid who can definitely play, and he's one of our most improved players." Saturday night's win was crucial for more than just emotional reasons.
The top two finishers in the A-10 East will draw first-round conference tournament byes, and St. Bonaventure and UMass could be among the teams fighting for those spots. Of more immediate interest is the upcoming schedule, which presents an opportunity for UMass. Tomorrow night at the Mullins Center, the Minutemen play Dayton (12-5, 4-2), a tough team but only a 2-4 road club. Then come consecutive games against Rhode Island, Duquesne and La Salle, which have a combined 2-18 A-10 record, and a home rematch against St.
Bonaventure. About the only negative to Saturday night's win came in the postgame celebration. UMass starting guard Kyle Wilson twisted his ankle, and his status tomorrow night against Dayton is uncertain, though Lappas hopes DICK'S SPORTING GOODS WE LOVE SPORTS AS MUCH AS YOU DO COLLEGE BASKETBALL FOCUS MEN'S HIGHLIGHTS: Jason Williams scored 27 points, Carlos Boozer added 25 and host No. 1 Duke shot 68 percent in the second half to race past No. 7 Virginia 94-81 last night.
The Blue Devils (18-1, 6-1 Atlantic Coust Conference) won their sixth straight all No. by double digits since losing by one point to Florida State on Jan. 6. Duke kept pace with 3 Maryland atop the ACC standings nearing the halfway point of the league season, while the Covaliers (14-3, 4-3) fell into a fourth -place tie with Wake Forest. North Carolina State is third at 5-2.
Williams notched his 11th 20-point game of the season, while Boozer has six in a row as the Blue Devils improved to 18-4 their last 22 matchups with Top Ten teams and snapped Virginia's five-game winning streak. The Cavaliers battled foul trouble all night and was led by Roger Mason 15 points. WOMEN'S HIGHLIGHTS: India Lewis and Dana Cherry keyed first-half runs and finished with 17 points each, leading host Arkansas over No. 7 South Carolina 74-67. The Lady Gameco*cks (17-3, 5-2 Southeastern Conference) were missing star forward Teresa Geter, sidelined with a stress fracture in her left foot Kelly Mazzante and Rashana Barnes both scored 16 points, leading host No.
9 Penn State past No. 9 Wisconsin 63-49 Chantelle Anderson scored 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and Zuzi Klimesova scored 24 points as No. 6 Vanderbilt beat host LSU 64-53. Vanderbilt (19-4, 5-2 Southeastern Conference) led by as many as 22 in the second half. LSU (11-7, 4-3) snapped a threegame winning streak.
The Tigers, led by Alysha Smith's 16 points, had won five straight at home Nicole Ohlde had 24 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists to lead host No. 11 Kansas State past No. 12 Texas Tech 76-63. The Wildcats (19-2, 7-1 Big 12) made 18 of 22 shots in the second half and pulled away the Lady Raiders (12-6, 4-4) to win their 10th straight at home. A sellout crowd of 13,340, the second largest crowd in Kansas State women's basketball history, watched the Wildcats shoot 62 percent and make 7 of 10 3- point shots.
ia Perkins scored 24 points for the Lady Roiders Vanessa Hayden and Monique Cardenas scored 19 points each as host No. 18 Florida beat No. 17 Georgia 73-64. The Lady Gators (15-5, 5-2 Southeastern Conference) built a huge first-half lead and then held off a desperate rally from the Lady Bulldogs (14-5, 3-4) to win their third consecutive game. Florida had lost 11 of its last 13 meetings with Georgia, but now has won two straight over the Lady Dawgs Kara Lawson scored 23 points and had eight rebounds as No.
2 Tennessee its sixth straight game, beating host No. 22 Auburn 66-53. Tennessee (17-1, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) shot 45.5 percent while holding Auburn to just 29.7 percent. Auburn (14-6, 2-5) has lost three of four. Le'Coe Willingham led Auburn with 14 points, including four 3-point shots, and 13 rebounds Mary Jo Noon had 19 points and 11 rebounds, helping host No.
10 Purdue beat lowa 82-68 and set a school record with 22 straight wins at Mackey Arena. The Boilermakers (16-3, 7-2 Big Ten) broke the record set during the 1997-98 to 1999-00 seasons. Their last loss at home came to Louisiana Tech on Nov. 20, 2000. They also have won 20 straight home games against Big Ten teams Sheana Mosch scored 24 points and freshman Monique Currie added 21 more as fifth-ranked Duke stayed unbeaten in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 102-80 victory at Florida State.
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