COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : Michigan Grows Up; Cincinnati Rolls : Southeast Regional: After losing to Ohio State twice, the Wolverines’ five freshmen beat the Buckeyes in overtime.

It was the flashbacks, these freshman wonders from Michigan said, that carried them through the fire of the finish.

Flashbacks to Columbus on March 3, when they were in cruise control at the finish of an almost routine victory at Ohio State. But they collapsed in the final five minutes and lost, 77-66.

Sunday afternoon in Lexington, Ky., at the NCAA Southeast Regional championship, there was trouble again at the finish. Again, Ohio State was surging.

But this time Michigan’s teen-agers held together, this time showing grit to match their considerable talent. They held off Ohio State in regulation, 63-63, then won in overtime, 75-71, before 23,047 in Rupp Arena.

Now, it is off to Minneapolis and a Final Four game against Cincinnati, but no one wanted to talk about that Sunday.

Flashbacks.

“I must admit, that game at Columbus did cross my mind,” said Jalen Rose, the guard who Sunday put the game out of reach for Michigan with two free throws for a 75-67 lead with 32 seconds to play.

He was asked about it because Michigan twice had seven-point leads late in the second half before the Buckeyes not only caught them but nearly beat the Wolverines at the end of regulation.

“We always look back to that Columbus game, no matter who we’re playing,” Rose said. “We came together as a team in that loss--we learned 35 minutes isn’t enough, that you need 40. Today, we needed 45. But yes, when they made that big run, I thought of Columbus.”

After a first half during which the lead changed hands nine times, Michigan’s 6-foot-9 Chris Webber and 6-9 Juwan Howard bottled up Ohio State’s 6-9 Lawrence Funderburke far more effectively than North Carolina did Friday night.

And outside, Michigan’s perimeter defense forced Ohio State’s All-American guard, Jim Jackson, to commit nine turnovers. Jackson made only nine of 21 shots.

The defense didn’t stop there. Ohio State’s 6-7 Chris Jent was two for 12 as Ohio State shot 40.5%. Michigan shot 57.7%, with Webber going nine for 12 and scoring a game-high 23 points. Rose had 20.

But their defense against Funderburke was the key. Funderburke, after he picked up his second foul, was benched by Coach Randy Ayers for the last 6:20 of the first half. Said Ayers: “Lawrence had two (fouls) when I took him out, and (Bill) Robinson was playing very well for him, and I just decided I didn’t want Lawrence starting the second half with three fouls.”

After Howard scored on a follow shot with four seconds to play in the first half, giving Michigan a 37-31 lead, he ran off the court with a fist high, waving it defiantly at the Ohio State fans, who made up about half the crowd.

Jamaal Brown and Jent made three-pointers for Ohio State to open the second half, tying the score. But Webber, Howard and Jimmy King took charge, opening up a 49-42 lead with 14:09 to play.

Michigan was in control until 7:19 left in regulation, when Funderburke made a dunk to put Ohio State ahead by 59-57. It was the Buckeyes’ first lead since 24-22.

Jackson then made the score 61-57 when he rebounded and scored after a missed shot by Funderburke,

The Wolverines had scored only four points in nearly seven minutes when Rose made the score 61-59 on a jump shot. Webber tied it at 61 on a dunk, then taunted Jent, who had fallen on his back trying to stop him.

Brown gave Ohio State a 63-61 lead with a shot from the top of the key with 52 seconds to play, but Webber scored on a tip-in of a Rose miss with 27 seconds remaining. Jent’s shot to win in regulation with six seconds to play missed.

In overtime, Ohio State never contended. King started Michigan off with a three-pointer, Rose made two free throws and Webber made a three-point play when Jent deliberately grabbed him on a dunk, and Rose got two more free throws.

“After we were up 61-57, we never had a good look at the basket again,” Ayers said. “I give them credit, their young players held together. Their freshmen have grown up.”

Said Jackson, the 6-6 junior who said he hasn’t decided if he will enter the NBA: “It was a great game, the way a championship game is supposed to be played. They executed like they’d been here before, and we didn’t. We got a lot of easy baskets on them the last two games, but not today.”

Michigan’s commanding first half gave Coach Steve Fisher that Final Four feeling.

“At the half, I had a real solid feeling,” Fisher said. “Even when they started the second half with those two threes, I felt good. Chris Webber played like a real man today.”