High school wrestling: New Lothrop senior continues family’s history of success. PAGE B2

SPORTSSECTION

BThe Flint JournalTuesday, February 26, 2013

STATE BRIEFS

TIGERS

Cabrera homers

in exhibitionMiguel 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 pollMichigan’s stay outsidethe top five didn’t lastlong. After beating Illinois71-58 on Sunday, theWolverines improvedthree spots in TheAssociated Press’ Top 25men’s basketball poll,moving back to No. 4.Michigan State, whichsuffered losses againstIndiana and Ohio Statelast week fell to No. 9.Indiana remained thenation’s 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 Michigan’spro day on March 14.

PISTONS

Knight still outDetroit Pistons guardBrandon Knight wasout for Monday’s gameagainst the AtlantaHawks because of ahyper-extended rightknee. It is the thirdmissed game for Knight,who hasn’t 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 didn’t feel likeI 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. 48teamwasn’t sending amessageto the competitors.“I don’t think we went any-

where; anybody in the garagearea, they’re wise to all that,”Johnson said.Johnson’s 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 is

old 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, Michigan’ssensational 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.“It’s 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, Burke’s 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 don’t know, it’s crazy. I

don’t 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 didn’t 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.He’s 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, he’s been playing withTim Hardaway as well, andTim has scored over 1,000,it’s not like he’s a one-manshow out there,” Beilein said.“He’s just really a specialplayer and we just love whathe’s brought to the team. Inpractice, everything.“It’s special.”

Email: nbaumgardner@mlive.com

NICK

BAUMGARDNER

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 as“The Second Season” for agood reason.

It gives teams an opportunityto atone for mistakes or short-comings that might have takenplace during the regular sea-son. One team looking tomakeamends is Burton Bendle’s 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 Friday’s 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. “I’ve been waiting forthis for four years. We all feelwe can get far. I’m 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 thedistrict 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 thinkwe’ll 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 Monday’s contest, butthe Buccaneers didn’t 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.Bendle’s 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.“It’s time for my big players

to step up, and this is a big tone-setter,” Steller said. “We’vetrained all season to take it onegame at a time.We’re not look-ing to Friday. We’re 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

Bendle’s Emily Malin, right, drives past two Beecher defenders in the first half of Monday’s Class C girls basketball districtopener. Bendle defeated Beecher 68-57.

LAUREN JUSTICE | MLIVE.COM

Mackenzie Ford, left, of Bendle, and Beecher’s DynastyWashington look up at the referee during Monday’s game.

MORE

Girls basketball district tournament§scores,B2-B3

JimmieJohnson

MORE

Danica Patrick proves she belongs§in Sprint Cup field,B4

Safety a concern as fans injured in§Nationwide Series race,B4