CLEVELAND - Plundering. Back in the days when vikings terrorized the known world, that was what they set out to do.
And indeed, the latter-day Vikings of Cleveland State set out to do much the same Saturday night. As things turned out, it was all the Michigan men's basketball team could do to keep the Vikings from plundering the Wolverines' No. 7 ranking.
Michigan pulled out an 80-74 victory Saturday night in Cleveland, staving off a mad Viking charge that brought them back from a 16-point deficit with just under 14 minutes remaining in the second half, to within two with 40 seconds to go.
But Cleveland State fouled the wrong guy with the clock running down, putting Michigan's sophomore guard - and top free-throw shooter - Louis Bullock on the line. Bullock hit from the charity stripe with 12 seconds left to put the Wolverines up, 78-74, and ice the game.
Bullock missed the second free throw, but the carom was scooped up by Maceo Baston - back after missing almost a month with an Achilles tendon injury - and he was fouled on the putback attempt. He swished the two foul shots that provided the final margin.
"We just have to put them away when we have our chance," Bullock said. "We let them right back in the game."
It may have been Baston's surprise entry into the game with over three minutes into the second half that helped give the Wolverines the cushion they would need as the game wound down. Michigan went into halftime with a 40-37 lead, and after the teams traded buckets, the junior came off the bench and immediately made his presence felt, blocking the first shot that came his way.
The Wolverines then went galloping off. Guard Travis Conlan stole the ball and made a long outlet pass to the streaking Bullock, who was fouled while driving to the goal. The basket was good, and Bullock canned the free throw to make it 45-39.
Just over three minutes later, Michigan seemed to have the game put away for good, sophomore center Robert Traylor's jam having staked the Wolverines to a 57-41 lead.
Cleveland State, under the guidance of coach Rollie Massimino, was undeterred. Senior center Eric Nichelson started the Vikings' comeback with a 3-pointer on Cleveland State's next possession on an assist by senior guard Malcolm Sims. Nichelson returned the favor the Vikings' next time down, as Sims' jumper cut Michigan's lead to 11.
Nichelson added another deuce just over three minutes later, and the score stood at 60-52. The Wolverines looked like they were going to hold off the Vikings attack, as Baston put back a Brandun Hughes miss and Travis Conlan got a driving baseline layup to fall through.
But Cleveland State hung tough, and pulled within four points on the strength of two 3-pointers by freshman guard James Madison. By this time, the 10,123-strong crowd at Goodman Arena was on its feet.
After Maurice Taylor put the Wolverines up, 71-65, Madison nailed another trey to bring the Vikings within three. After a miss by Taylor, Baston fouled Nichelson, who made one of two shots from the line, and Michigan's lead was down to a mere basket.
Forty seconds later, Sims fed junior forward Michael Bowens on an inbounds pass for a lay-in, and the Wolverines teetered on the razor's edge.
Hughes found Traylor for an alley-oop to put Michigan up, 74-71, and a foul by Madison sent the big man to the line. The shot caught the rim and bounced off toward the left sideline, where it was poked back inbounds by a diving Hughes. Taylor capitalized with a baseline lay-in, and the lead seemed safe at 76-72 with just over a minute to play.
After a Cleveland State miss, Bullock controlled the ball, but slipped and turned the ball over to Sims, who easily canned the open 3-pointer.
The Vikings then fouled Hughes off the inbounds pass, and when Hughes missed the second free throw to leave the margin at three with 33 seconds left, Cleveland State was still alive.
But Madison's attempt from beyond the arc on the Vikings' next possession glanced off the rim, and Taylor tipped the ball safely into Bullock's hands, seconds before Cleveland State defenders put him on the line to ice the game.
"Cleveland State's a scrappy team," Traylor said. "They're a team that's not going to quit."
Hughes saw both good and bad in the Wolverines' performance.
"We held them off, and that's part of being a good team," he said. "We're taking steps forward in doing that, but I think we also took a step back in how we didn't finish them when we could have."
Massimino - who won an NCAA title as coach at Villanova in 1985 - gave his team all the credit for taking the Wolverines the distance.
"You've got to understand that this is the seventh-ranked team in the country," he said. "You're not just playing chopped liver."
"It was right there to be had," Massimino said of the game. "But that's basketball. That's what makes it so good."
Michigan coach Steve Fisher didn't mince words about his team's close encounter with the Viking hoard.
"We had our hands full and then some," he said. "Their crowd energized them, and got us a little frustrated."
"We need to go back and say 'What can we learn from this?' and be better prepared."
The Wolverines have little time to learn the lessons of the near-plundering at Cleveland - they face Bradley tonight at 7:30 at Crisler Arena.
MARGARET MEYERS/Daily
Though his coach would have liked to have held him out of the lineup for at least another game to rest a strained Achilles tendon he suffered Nov. 7, Maceo Baston delivered a much-needed lift off the bench.