IU ends postseason with 3 wins

BOSTON -- While many IU students were sun-worshipping and bar-hopping in exotic tropical getaways, the men's basketball team was still hard at work. \nThe Hoosiers had a busy spring break, which began March 13 at the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago and ended Sunday against Pittsburgh in the second round of the NCAA tourney. Here's a recap of last week's games.\nIU 63, Michigan 56, Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinal \nDue to recruiting violations committed by the University of Michigan basketball program in the early 90s, the Wolverines were unable to participate in this year's NCAA tournament, making the Big Ten tourney that much more meaningful for them. \nMichigan senior forward LaVell Blanchard did not want his second round match-up with IU to be his last and played an aggressive first half in which he scored 14 points. \nSenior guard Tom Coverdale led the counter-attack against Blanchard's Wolverines, scoring 10 points before halftime as the Hoosiers headed into the locker room down by five.\nBut after halftime, it was all A.J. Moye.\nThe junior guard scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half and provided the Hoosiers with an emotional spark off the bench. During a 15-7 Hoosier run, he scored 12 points in just over four minutes, helping to secure the victory.\n"That's basically what my role is more than anything," Moye said. "Tom (Coverdale) and I are the emotional lifts for the team. We kind of give each other that look, and we know it is time to play hard and fight. Those two things are contagious."\nIU 72, Illinois 73, Big Ten Tournament Semifinal\nThe last time IU and Illinois faced in the regular season, the Fighting Illini smoked the Hoosiers 80-54. When the two met in Big Ten tournament semifinal game, the Fighting Illini put themselves in position to repeat that game.\nIU fell behind Illinois by 16 points in the first half as Newton played a mere eight minutes. With Newton out because of two early fouls, the Illini's senior big man Brian Cook was unstoppable as he scored 14 first half points.\n"The last five minutes of the first half really burnt us," Davis said. "They extended their defense and really took us out of our offense."\nWhatever Davis said at halftime had some effect on his team as they improved their overall field goal percentage by 30 percent in the second half. \nNewton saw his playing time increase, but it was the Hoosiers' other big man, junior center George Leach, who helped get IU back in the game. Leach ended with 14 points, the third-best on the team.\nDespite frantic attempts by the Hoosiers, including two leaning three-point jumps shots by Coverdale, IU fell just short of the championship game.\nCoverdale led the team with 21 points and Wright was the second-highest scorer with 16 points. The Hoosiers won the rebounding game by grabbing 37 boards to Illinois' 28.\n"We fought every game here and that is definitely an improvement from the last few weeks," Davis said.\nIU 67, Alabama 62, NCAA First Round\nThe Hoosiers, a long-time bubble team, made it into the NCAA tournament, and still Davis had mixed feelings. But only because he found himself facing his alma mater, Alabama, in the first round of the NCAA tournament.\nThe two teams took the court Friday, March 21 at Boston's Fleet Center. Both Davis and his team were admittedly out of their element in the first half, and went into the locker room down by 11 points.\n"As a team, we know how to fight," Newton said. "I thought we played hard in the second half. We got back into the game."\nIU stayed in the game in the first half only because Coverdale scored 16 of his 23 overall points. In the second half, Newton and Wright assisted Coverdale in the Hoosiers' comeback.\nWright scored all of his 17 points in the second half and Newton added 12 more for 14 total points. Coverdale also led the team in rebounds with eight and dished out a team-high eight assists.\n"It's a great win," Coverdale said. "Once we did well on defense then our offense picked up. It got us going"