Southeast Roundup : Michigan Rallies for 59-55 Win

Michigan’s Wolverines suffered a gigantic case of lethargy Friday--trailing unheralded Fairleigh Dickinson by 10 points with 13 minutes to play--before finally waking up to salvage a 59-55 win in an NCAA Southeast Regional first-round game at Dayton, Ohio.

“This type of game really doesn’t surprise me,” Wolverine Coach Bill Frieder said. “You see it all the time, you read about it, you hear about it.

“You just hope that your team is ready to play hard and play smart and combat anything that might come out of this type of game.

“But it’s a victory and we’ll take it and hope that we play a little harder and a little smarter on Sunday.”

Michigan (26-3) will meet Villanova in the second round, while Maryland faces Navy.

Fairleigh Dickinson closed out its season with a 21-10 record, but earned a lot of respect by giving highly favored Michigan all it could handle.

“Hopefully, there are a lot of people on a national level that will give Fairleigh Dickinson a little more respect now,” Knight Coach Tom Green said.

Even when Michigan stormed to a 55-43 lead with just two minutes to go, Fairleigh Dickinson refused to fold and nearly caught up in the closing seconds.

Michigan got sloppy and Fairleigh Dickinson’s Jaimie Latney hit a basket with nine seconds left to pull the Knights to 57-55. It took two free throws by Roy Tarpley, the game’s leading scorer with 15 points, with two seconds left to finally seal the win for the Wolverines.

Maryland 69, Miami (Ohio) 68--Jeff Adkins, a 6-5 senior guard, tipped in a rebound with 14 seconds left in overtime to give the Terrapins (24-11) the victory after their delay game in regulation almost backfired.

With about eight minutes left and Maryland leading, 50-45, the Terps went into their double post delay game.

Miami tied the score at 55-55 and regulation ended at 59-59.

Len Bias led Maryland with 25 points, while Adrian Branch had 24.

The Redskins (20-11) were led by Ron Harper’s 26 points.

Villanova 51, Dayton 49--Reserve Harold Jensen’s driving basket with 1:11 left gave the Wildcats (20-10) the win over the Flyers (19-10).

The game was tied three times in the second half, the last at 49-49 on Ed Pinckney’s layup with 3:35 to go.

The Wildcats then controlled the ball until Jensen, a 6-5 sophomore, saw an opening and went in uncontested.

Dayton then held the ball until there were 27 seconds left, but shots by Dan Christie and Sedric Toney failed to go in in the waning seconds.

Pinckney, a 6-9 1/2 senior, led Villanova with 20 points.