Michigan leaves lot in reserves

Michigan guard Tim Hardaway Jr. (right) drives against Binghamton guard Mike Horn on Tuesday in the second half of the No. 3 Wolverines’ 67-39 victory in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Michigan guard Tim Hardaway Jr. (right) drives against Binghamton guard Mike Horn on Tuesday in the second half of the No. 3 Wolverines’ 67-39 victory in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

— Trey Burke stole the ball near midcourt and raced ahead for a breakaway layup to put Michigan ahead by 31.

Moments later, his night was done.

Burke scored 19 points in only 30 minutes — the most rest he’s had in a game all season — and No. 3 Michigan routed Binghamton 67-39 on Tuesday. Freshman Nik Stauskas added 12 points, and the Wolverines substituted liberally in a game that was every bit the mismatch it looked like before the opening tip.

“I don’t feel banged up, but I think Spike [Albrecht] did a good job coming and giving me some time,” Burke said. “Caris [LeVert] obviously came in and gave some great minutes.”

LeVert played 14 minutes and Albrecht played 10. They had a combined six assists and no turnovers.

The Wolverines (10-0) are off to their best start since their national title season of 1988-89.

The Bearcats (2-9) were coming off a 22-point loss to Bryant. They led Michigan 10-8 before the Wolverines went on a 19-2 run.

It was 34-14 at halftime.

Jordan Reed scored 11 points and was Binghamton’s only player with 10 or more. He also had eight rebounds.

“That’s a great team — a team that could win a national championship — so coming into their building was taking an awfully big bite at the apple,” Binghamton Coach Tommy Dempsey said. “I’m not sure that I thought it was realistic for us to come in here and beat Michigan, but I thought we were competitive, and at this stage of our program, that’s a great step in the right direction.”

The Wolverines were favored by 37 1/2 points, but they got off to a slow start, allowing the Bearcats to match them in the early going. Rayner Moquete’s three-pointer off a Michigan turnover put Binghamton up two, but the lead was short lived.

Tim Hardaway Jr.’s threepoint play 23 seconds later put the Wolverines back ahead, and Stauskas and Hardaway made it 21-12 with back-toback three-pointers.

Reed gave the Bearcats a brief highlight, dunking a missed shot to make it 27-14, but Michigan scored the last seven points of the half, capped by Burke’s three from near the top of the key in the final seconds.

Burke made an alert play in the second half when his pass toward Jordan Morgan was deflected up off the backboard. The ball bounced all the way back to Burke on the perimeter, and the Michigan point guard then drove for an easy bank shot and a 52-27 lead.

It was 62-31 after Burke’s steal and layup.

Stauskas, who entered the game shooting better than 60 percent from three-point range, went 4 for 8 from beyond the arc.

“When he misses a couple shots, we’re all surprised, aren’t we?” Michigan Coach John Beilein joked. “I want him to shoot it when he’s open, pass it when he’s not, and just have enough drive in his game so he can get to the foul line as well.”

Binghamton did not shoot a free throw until there was 4:41 to play in the second half. Michigan was whistled for only four fouls all night. In the Wolverines’ previous victory over Arkansas, the Razorbacks attempted only four free throws.

“It’s been a point of emphasis my whole life,” Beilein said. “We think you can play good defense without having stupid fouls. You’re going to have fouls, but it’s just fouls that are not necessary. We work really hard at that.”

In other Top 25 games, Brandon Paul scored 14 points and D.J. Richardson overcame a shoulder injury to add 11 and help 10th-ranked Illinois (11-0) hold off visiting Norfolk State 64-54. Rashid Gaston scored 12 points and Pendarvis Williams added 11 for Norfolk State (6-6), which led for much of the first half. ... Rodney Williams scored a season-high 19 points, including a 360-degree dunk off a fast break, and Trevor Mbakwe grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds to lead 13th-ranked Minnesota (11-1) past visiting North Dakota State 70-57. Lawrence Alexander led the Bison (8-3) with 19 points, Taylor Braun added 15 and Marshall Bjorklund 12.

SEC men

AUBURN 92,

GRAMBLING STATE 42

AUBURN, Ala. — Chris Denson scored 13 points in his first appearance this season as Auburn defeated Grambling State, snapping a four-game losing streak.

Auburn (3-5) won for only the second time in seven games as Denson provided Frankie Sullivan, the leading scorer in the SEC, some much-needed support.

A junior guard, Denson missed the first seven games because he was academically ineligible. Last season, he averaged 8.7 points per game. Denson had seven by halftime against Grambling State.

Sullivan, who came in averaging 19.7 points per game, had 10 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Noel Johnson and Jordan Price added 14 points apiece off the bench and Rob Chubb had 10 points.

Grambling State (0-7), which has lost all of its games on the road, was led by guard Derron Hobbs’ 11 points. Leading scorer Terry Rose was held to eight

Tuesday’s scores

MEN

EAST

Duquesne 60, West Virginia 56 Harvard 65, Boston U. 64 NJIT 69, Army 67 Rutgers 68, George Washington 65 Stony Brook 77, St. Francis (NY) 61 Villanova 65, Saint Joseph’s 61

SOUTH

Auburn 92, Grambling St. 42 Jacksonville St. 79, Martin Methodist 64 LSU 80, Chattanooga 67 Louisiana-Lafayette 77, Lamar 60

MIDWEST

IUPUI 65, Indiana-Northwest 59 Illinois 64, Norfolk St. 54 Michigan 67, Binghamton 39 Minnesota 70, N. Dakota St. 57

FAR WEST

Nevada 69, Cal Poly 56 Saint Mary’s (Cal) 120, Jackson St. 67 San Diego 88, Southwestern (Ariz.) 65 Santa Clara 75, San Jose St. 54

WOMEN

EAST

Columbia 49, St. Francis (NY) 45 Fairleigh Dickinson 56, Stony Brook 49 Maryland 88, Towson 43 NJIT 62, St. Peter’s 35

SOUTH

Bethune-Cookman 88, Edward Waters 46 Georgia College 54, Ga. Southwestern 43 Lees-McRae 69, Va. Intermont 42 Mount Olive 65, Virginia Union 46 Nova Southeastern 78, Dist. of Columbia 50 Presbyterian 69, Brevard 46 SE Louisiana 69, New Orleans 67

MIDWEST

DePaul 94, Milwaukee 83 Michigan 55, E. Michigan 43

SOUTHWEST

Texas 77, Louisiana-Monroe 49

FAR WEST

Colorado 83, Denver 63

points, half his average.

LSU 80, CHATTANOOGA 67

BATON ROUGE — Andre Stringer made the most of his first start of the season and scored 13 of his seasonhigh 18 points in the first half to vault LSU over Chattanooga. Johnny O’Bryant III added 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers. LSU (6-0) has won all six of its games under first-year coach Johnny Jones. The last time the Tigers opened the season 6-0 was during the 2008-09 season when the program won its last SEC regular-season championship. Trailing 23-20 at the 9:35 mark of the first half, LSU scored 22 of the half’s final 29 points to lead 42-30 at halftime. The Tigers limited Chattanooga (2-7) to two field goals during the stretch. The Mocs were paced by Z. Mason’s 22 points and Ronrico White added 17.

Sun Belt men

LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 77, LAMAR 60

LAFAYETTE, La. — Shawn Long scored 10 of his 16 points in the first half and Alan-Michael Thompson came off the bench for 18 as Louisiana-Lafayette beat Lamar. Elfrid Payton led the Ragin’ Cajuns with 17 points. He and Long recorded 11 rebounds and went 7 of 14 from the field. Louisiana-Lafayette opened the game with back-to-back layups before the freshman Long scored the next seven points to put the Ragin’ Cajuns up 11-0.

Sports, Pages 22 on 12/12/2012