Nov 21, 2008 - 2:36 AM
0 shoutsNEW YORK (Ticker) -- DeShawn Sims scored 18 points and Manny Harris added 13 to lead Michigan to 55-52 victory over No. 4 UCLA on Thursday in the 2K Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden.
Stu Douglas added 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting and four assists for the Wolverines, who shot 13-of-21 (62 percent) in the second half.
The win was the first for Michigan (3-0) against a top-five team since December 13, 1997.
Sims converted a backdoor dunk with 34 seconds left to stretch the lead to 53-49, and Harris knocked down both ends of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity with 4.1 seconds to make it 55-52.
Harris then blocked Darren Collison's 3-point attempt at the buzzer to seal the win.
UCLA (2-1) took a 48-46 lead with 4:16 left on Alfred Aboya's free throw but managed only one point over the next four minutes.
Douglas hit a 3-pointer and Sims made a layup off a turnover to put the Wolverines back on top, 51-48.
The Bruins seemed to have trouble with Michigan's 1-3-1 zone defense, knocking down only 2-of-8 3-point attempts in the second half.
"I hadn't seen that 1-3-1 before, and we were worried about it and tried to work on it a lot in practice," Bruins freshman guard Jrue Holiday told the Orange County Register. "But they made it hard on us, and we really looked for an open man in that zone and couldn't find one enough to get a rhythm on offense."
The Wolverines had trouble in the first half, going 10-of-32 from the field and falling behind, 29-23, at the break. They shot 1-of-12 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.
Collison and Holliday finished with 13 points apiece for UCLA, which led by as many as 10 in the first half.
Michigan will face Duke in the championship game on Friday.
From the Bleachers
-
UCLA: 52
MICHIGAN: 55
Final
Nov 20 11:42 PM -
UCLA(4) 48, Michigan 51 2nd Half - 1:30
RUWTbot
Added 38 roots (Close Finish, Upset)
Nov 20 11:31 PM -
UCLA: 29
MICHIGAN: 23
Halftime
Nov 20 10:29 PM
