High school wrestling: New Lothrop senior continues familys
history of success. PAGE B2
SPORTSSECTION
BThe Flint JournalTuesday, February 26, 2013
STATE BRIEFS
TIGERS
Cabrera homersin exhibition
Miguel Cabrera alreadylooks ready for openingday. Cabrera hit
a
booming,three-runhomer offPhiladelphiacloserJonathonPapelbonas
theDetroitTigersbeat thePhillies 10-1
Monday. It was thesecond home run infour Grapefruit Leaguegames
for Cabrera. NickCastellanos and utilityplayer Kevin Russo
alsohomered for the Tigers.Drew Smyly, who isbattling Rick
Porcellofor the final spot in thestarting rotation retiredfive of
six batters faced.Detroit returns to actiontoday with Doug
Fistertaking the mound againstthe Houston Astros at1:05 p.m.
Castellanos making play
for final roster spot, B4
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
U-M jumps in pollMichigans stay outsidethe top five didnt
lastlong. After beating Illinois71-58 on Sunday, theWolverines
improvedthree spots in TheAssociated Press Top 25mens basketball
poll,moving back to No. 4.Michigan State, whichsuffered losses
againstIndiana and Ohio Statelast week fell to No. 9.Indiana
remained thenations top team,followed by Gonzaga andDuke. Miami was
fifth.
WOLVERINES
Denard impressesDuring Senior Bowlpractices, formerUniversity of
Michiganquarterback DenardRobinson struggled withroutes and
catchingthe ball, and looked ill-prepared to shag puntsand kicks.
NFL personnelstill like his athleticism,which was on full displayat
the NFL ScoutingCombine last weekendin Indianapolis. Robinsonposted
a 4.43 time in the40-yard dash makinghim the
seventh-fastestreceiver at the combine.He will return to AnnArbor
to wrap up hisdegree in general studies,and train for Michiganspro
day on March 14.
PISTONS
Knight still outDetroit Pistons guardBrandon Knight wasout for
Mondays gameagainst the AtlantaHawks because of ahyper-extended
rightknee. It is the thirdmissed game for Knight,who hasnt played
sinceFeb. 20 against Charlotte. Pistons lose to Atlanta, B5
RED WINGS
Lashoff extends dealThe Detroit Red Wingssigned defenseman
BrianLashoff to a three-yearcontract extension.Lashoff, 22, was
expectedto spend the year withthe Grand Rapids Griffins,but
injuries to CarloColaiacovo and JonathanEricsson forced the
RedWings to recall him Jan. 21.He has one goal and twoassists in 15
games.
MLive.com
MiguelCabrera
BY JENNA FRYERTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Jimmie Johnsonwent two yearswithout a title
and suddenlybecame an afterthought at theDaytona 500.All the
attention went to
Danica Patrick and a handful ofother drivers.Not that it
mattered Sun-day, becauselookwho pulledinto
VictoryLane.Five-time is
back. Not thathe ever wentaway.Johnson won
his secondDaytona 500 on Sun-day, a year after he completedjust
one lap in the race andthreemonths after falling shortin his bid
for a sixth Sprint Cuptitle. That so-called droughthad made him
something of ano-name during Speedweeks.Inmymind, I didnt feel
like
I was under the radar, he said.I felt like we were workinghard
to put the best product onthe track. I guess I was quiet inthe
overall spectrum of thingsfrom the media side. I thinkpeople in the
garage, peopleknew we were sitting on a lotof speed and had a very
goodrace car.But in winning the biggest
race of the year, the No. 48teamwasnt sending amessageto the
competitors.I dont think we went any-
where; anybody in the garagearea, theyre wise to all
that,Johnson said.Johnsons win came on the
same day that Patrickmade his-tory as the first woman to
leadlaps in the Daytona 500.She ran inside the top 10 al-
most the entire race, kept pacewith the field and never
pan-icked on the track.There were several multicar
crashes, but no one was hurtand none of them approachedthe
magnitude of the wreckthat injured more than twodozen fans in the
grandstandat the end of the second-tierNationwide Series race on
thesame track a day earlier.
ANN ARBOR For TreyBurke, this apparently isold hat.Moments after
becoming
the seventh player inUniversity of Michiganbasketball history to
score1,000 points before the closeof his sophomore season,Burke
left the Crisler Centermedia room, posed for aphoto, got a
congratulatoryhandshake from coach JohnBeilein and went on his
way.Another day at the office
for Mr. Burke, Michiganssensational point guard who
continues to leave his stampon the program with eachpassing
day.One of the
top pointguards inthe country?Absolutely.One of the
best pointguards inMichiganhistory? Nodoubt about it.Its
definitely an honor, to
be in that company, Burkesaid Sunday after a 26-pointeffort to
lead Michigan toa 71-58 win over Illinois. Iunderstand that (the
guys whoaccomplished that before)were guys that paved the wayfor
all of us to be here.At this point, Burkes one
of those guys doing somepaving, when it comes toexcellence at
his position, forevery player that follows him.Burke was
confident
as a freshman, but neverenvisioned himself gettingthis good,
this fast.I dont know, its crazy. I
dont even think it was twoyears ago (when I startedhere), Burke
said. Just tobe able to come in here andreplace a great point guard
inDarius Morris and be arounda great group of guys and runthe team,
and to continue toget honors, I feel honoredabout it.Six Michigan
players, prior
to Burke, hit the 1,000-pointmark during their sophomoreseason.
The others on thatlist? Phil Hubbard, Mike
McGee, Chris Webber, JalenRose, Louis Bullock andManny
Harris.Burke also became the 11th
player in school history to hit1,000 points in less than
twoyears, as Cazzie Russell, RudyTomjanovich, Bill Buntin andHenry
Wilmore accomplishedthe feat in an era whenfreshmen didnt
play.Burke had his full arsenal
working Sunday, going 8 of 11from the floor and 8 of 10
from the foul line.He also handed out eight
assists, now averaging 18.9points and 6.9 assists pergame.Hes
close to becoming
the first Big Ten Conferenceplayer since Magic Johnsonto finish
a season averagingat least 17 points and sevenassists per game.When
you look at this
thing, hes been playing withTim Hardaway as well, andTim has
scored over 1,000,its not like hes a one-manshow out there, Beilein
said.Hes just really a specialplayer and we just love whathes
brought to the team. Inpractice, everything.Its special.
Email: [email protected]
NICKBAUMGARDNER
U-M BASKETBALL
Trey Burke
Burkemaking a little magicSOPHOMORE POINT GUARD CREATING LEGACY
OF HIS OWN FOR NO. 4 WOLVERINES
UP NEXTNext game:No. 4 Michiganat Penn State,6:30
p.m.WednesdayTV: Big Ten Network
Johnsonrolls toDaytonavictory
BY GREG TUNNICLIFFFOR MLIVE.COM
BURTON The MichiganHigh School Athletic Associa-tion basketball
tournament isaffectionately referred to asThe Second Season for
agood reason.It gives teams an opportunity
to atone for mistakes or short-comings that might have
takenplace during the regular sea-son. One team looking
tomakeamends is Burton Bendles girlssquad.While the Tigers split
their
season series with Hamady,they finished one game behindthe Hawks
in the final GeneseeArea Conference Blue Divisionstandings.Both
teams are competing
in the Class C district tourna-ment at Burton Atherton, andcould
meet in Fridays districtchampionship game.Bendle moved a step
closer
to securing another shot atHamady, posting a 68-57 victo-ry over
Beecher in a first-roundgame Monday at Bendle.I think (the 57-55
win over
Hamady on Feb. 12) gave usconfidence, said Bendle se-nior
Jacqueline Simpson, whoscored a game-high 27 pointsMonday. Ive been
waiting forthis for four years. We all feelwe can get far. Im not
ready for
it to end yet.Bendle (18-2) advanced to
the district semifinals, whereit will face Genesee (14-7) at5:30
p.m. Wednesday atAtherton.While the Tigers reached the
district championship game asrecently as 2011, they have notwon
a district title since cap-turing back-to-back crowns in1990 and
91.They have been eliminated
from the district tournamentin each of the previous fourseasons
by Hamady.Our goal was to win the
league championship, andwe came up one game short,
Bendle coach Liane Stellersaid. Our goal now is to winthe
district. I thinkwell be pre-pared and ready to go. This isour
opportunity to make somenoise.Beecher managed to stay
with Bendle for the first 16min-utes of Mondays contest, butthe
Buccaneers didnt have theoffensive depth to keep pacewith the
Tigers.Behind the trio of Simpson,
Anna Vollmar and Emily Ma-lin, Bendle pulled away mid-way
through the third quarter.Leading 36-28with 5:54 left, theTigers
went on an 16-6 run, tak-ing a 52-34 lead on a 3-pointer
by Simpson at the end of thequarter. Beecher never gotcloser
than 10 points for therest of the game.Bendles big three com-
bined for 63 points, including a24-of-33 (73 percent) effortfrom
the free-throw line.Malin had 19 points and threerebounds, Vollmar
recorded adouble-double (17 points, 12rebounds) and Simpson
hadeight boards, five assists andfour blocks for the Tigers,
whooutrebounded Beecher 28-20.Its time for my big players
to step up, and this is a big tone-setter, Steller said.
Wevetrained all season to take it onegame at a time.Were not
look-ing to Friday. Were looking tohave a good practice
(Tuesday)and our opponent (Genesee)on Wednesday.Beecher was led by
senor
Dynasty Washington, whoscored a team-high 23 points,including
five 3-pointers. Co-nyana Robinson had 16 pointsand Rochelle
Richardson hadfive rebounds for the Bucs.Hamady beat Flint
Interna-
tional Academy 52-17 in theother district opener.
GIRLS BASKETBALL DISTRICTS UNDERWAY
Bendle on a missionAFTER MISSING OUT ON LEAGUE TITLE, TIGERS
SHIFT FOCUS TO TOURNAMENT
LAUREN JUSTICE | MLIVE.COM
Bendles Emily Malin, right, drives past two Beecher defenders in
the first half of Mondays Class C girls basketball districtopener.
Bendle defeated Beecher 68-57.
LAUREN JUSTICE | MLIVE.COM
Mackenzie Ford, left, of Bendle, and Beechers DynastyWashington
look up at the referee during Mondays game.
MOREGirls basketball district tournament
scores,B2-B3
JimmieJohnson
MOREDanica Patrick proves she belongs
in Sprint Cup field,B4Safety a concern as fans injured
inNationwide Series race,B4
