New York, NY (Sports Network) - Daniel Horton scored 14 points to lead the Michigan Wolverines over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 62-55, for the National Invitation Tournament crown at Madison Square Garden.
Dion Harris added 13 points for Michigan, which earned its second official NIT crown. The Wolverines (23-11) also won the titles in 1984 and '97, but the latter was later stripped due to NCAA violations.
Those same NCAA penalties nearly cost Michigan a chance to play in the post- season this year, but the school won an appeal of the sanctions last September.
"I'm thrilled for our team and our program," Michigan head coach Tommy Amaker said. "We tried to make the most of this season in a fashion to make our university proud."
Rutgers' Herve Lamizana ended his collegiate career by nearly posting a triple-double, scoring 19 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking eight shots. Ricky Shields added 16 points for the Scarlet Knights (20-13), who missed out on their first NIT title in their first championship game appearance.
Trailing 41-29 after Horton hit a three-pointer 3:25 into the second half, Rutgers came to life and went on a 15-2 run to take a 44-43 lead. Quincy Douby's first basket of the game with 16:24 left started the run and ended an 0-for-8 shooting drought for the point guard. Shields, who had seven points during the burst, ended it with a jumper at the 10:56 mark.
Later, with the game tied at 48-48, Michigan scored nine straight points to clinch the game. Courtney Sims' jumper with 5:10 left gave the Wolverines the lead for good and Bernard Robinson's free throw with 1:04 left capped the burst.
Rutgers went 4:25 without a point during the Michigan run. A pair of Marquis Webb free throws with 58 ticks left ended the drought.
Poor Michigan free throw shooting in the final minute allowed the Scarlet Knights to remain within striking distance. The Wolverines hit only 2-of-6 from the stripe as the Scarlet Knights managed to narrow the lead to 59-55 with 19 seconds left.
However, that is as close as Rutgers would get as Michigan hit three of its final four free throws to ice the game.
"We were fortunate they missed shots late," Amaker said. "Certainly we didn't make the free throws to keep the lead at a comfortable margin, but we made enough to come out with the victory."
Douby, who lifted Rutgers with a 35-point performance in the semifinal round, finished with only two points on 1-of-13 shooting before fouling out with 10 seconds left.
"As a freshman sometimes you end up pressing yourself," Rutgers' head coach Gary Waters said of Douby. "When you go with a young man like that, you have to live with a young man like that. These are the type of times he's going to learn from for the next time."
Horton was the tournament MVP.
Rutgers finished shooting only 24-of-67 from the field and 3-of-19 from three- point range. Michigan didn't fare much better, going 21-of-59 from the floor, including 4-of-16 from beyond the arc. However, the difference was at the free throw line, where Michigan went 16-of-27 and Rutgers ended only 4-of-9.
The first half also saw Rutgers struggle from the field. After going ahead 16-14 just 8:36 into the half, the Scarlet Knights went over seven minutes without a point. Lamizana's jumper with 5:10 left ended the drought, but Michigan had run off 11 straight points over the span to go ahead 25-16.
Rutgers later drew within 28-23 on a Lamizana tip of his own miss with 1:47 remaining, but Michigan went into the break ahead 32-25 after scoring four of the final six points of the half.
Rutgers shot only 1-of-9 from three-point range and 11-of-35 overall in the first half. Douby epitomized Rutgers' struggles, going 0-for-8 from the field in the opening 20 minutes. Michigan, on the other hand, shot 12-of-32 from the field and 6-of-11 from the free throw line. Rutgers had only two first-half free throw attempts.
We stopped pretending we would ratify Kyoto. We only spent $15 billion on AIDS in Africa. We did not take dictation from Paris. If we had done these things, it would minimize the world’s anger.
Is the world angry at Russia, which spends nothing on AIDS and rebuffed Kyoto? Is the world angry at China, which got a pass on Kyoto and spends nothing on AIDS for other countries?
Is the world angry at North Korea for killings its people? Angry at Iran for smothering that vibrant nation with corrupt and thuggish mullocracy? Angry at Syria for occupying Lebanon? Angry at Saudi Arabia for its denial of women’s rights? Angry at Russia for corrupt elections? Is the world angry at China for threatening Taiwan, or angry at France for joining the Chinese in joint military exercises that threatened the island on the eve of an election? Is the world angry at Zimbabwe for stealing land and starving people? Is the world angry at Pakistan for selling nuclear secrets? Is the world angry at Libya for having an NBC program?
Is the world angry at the thugs of Fallujah?
Is the world angry at anyone besides America and Israel? - James Lileks
Originally posted by Reverend J ShaftI do, thank you very much - and I'd wager to say you would if Maryland were in it as well
I don't think the Terps know the meaning of NIT :)
We stopped pretending we would ratify Kyoto. We only spent $15 billion on AIDS in Africa. We did not take dictation from Paris. If we had done these things, it would minimize the world’s anger.
Is the world angry at Russia, which spends nothing on AIDS and rebuffed Kyoto? Is the world angry at China, which got a pass on Kyoto and spends nothing on AIDS for other countries?
Is the world angry at North Korea for killings its people? Angry at Iran for smothering that vibrant nation with corrupt and thuggish mullocracy? Angry at Syria for occupying Lebanon? Angry at Saudi Arabia for its denial of women’s rights? Angry at Russia for corrupt elections? Is the world angry at China for threatening Taiwan, or angry at France for joining the Chinese in joint military exercises that threatened the island on the eve of an election? Is the world angry at Zimbabwe for stealing land and starving people? Is the world angry at Pakistan for selling nuclear secrets? Is the world angry at Libya for having an NBC program?
Is the world angry at the thugs of Fallujah?
Is the world angry at anyone besides America and Israel? - James Lileks
Originally posted by Reverend J ShaftI do, thank you very much - and I'd wager to say you would if Maryland were in it as well
I don't think the Terps know the meaning of NIT :)
FYI Terps: Stands for Not Important Tournament
Well, there was a time when winning the NIT was more prestigious than winning the NCAA (back way, WAAAAY before modern times). It wasn't always that way.
You know why the Michigan fans didn't chant “We're number sixty-six!” after the Wolverines won the NIT? Too many syllables for the chant to really work well.
Plus, Michigan fans can't say more than two syllables at once.
Hey, I figured as long as we were making Michigan jokes...
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Originally posted by ekedolphinYou know why the Michigan fans didn't chant “We're number sixty-six!” after the Wolverines won the NIT? Too many syllables for the chant to really work well.
Plus, Michigan fans can't say more than two syllables at once.
Hey, I figured as long as we were making Michigan jokes...
Very original. At least your annoyance is lessened by watching your Pacers job like bitches to my Pistons today...
Where the population of Ann Arbor doubles every home football Saturday.
This is going to do for K-State (at least) what hiring Bob Knight did for Texas Tech. Beyond Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas (for as long as Barnes stays), the rest of the conference is wide open.