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MHERST, Mass. -- Former Indiana Hoosier Charlie Miller hit an 18-foot jumper from the left wing with less than five seconds remaining, to give the California All-Stars an 83-82 victory over the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team in exhibition action at the Mullins Center. Miller finished the game with 16 points on six of 10 shooting, while California-Berkeley product Michael Gill added a game-high 26 points for the All-Stars. Junior guard Shannon Crooks (Everett, Mass.) led the Minutemen with 17 points, three assists and three steals.

The game was close for the first 10 minutes, before the All-Stars went on a 26-10 run to take a 40-28 lead with three minutes remaining in the first half. UMass cut the lead to 43-37 at the intermission, then stayed close early in the second half before regaining the lead, 58-57, at the 10:35 mark on a fastbreak lay in by freshman guard Jameel Pugh (Sacramento, Calif.).

The lead would go back and forth for the remainder of the game, with junior forward Eric Williams (Brooklyn, N.Y.) hitting a short jumper and a pair of free throws in the final two minutes to turn a 79-76 deficit into an 80-79 UMass lead. The All-Stars regained the lead at the 27-second mark on a put-back by former Purdue Boilermaker Greg McQuay, before Crooks hit a driving lay in to put the Minutemen back in front, 82-81, with 17 seconds left to play. Miller would then hit his game-winning shot to clinch the victory for the All-Stars.

Williams finished the game with 10 points and nine rebounds, while freshman guard Willie Jenkins (Memphis, Tenn.) had 12 points and four boards. McQuay totaled 11 points and 11 rebounds for the All-Stars.

UMass will return to action next Friday, Nov. 10, when it plays host to Statmaster.com in a 7:00 p.m. exhibition contest at the Mullins Center.

MHERST � The main purpose of this game was to see how much the new players might help, and how quickly they could fit into the framework of the team.

And with that in mind, University of Massachusetts men's basketball coach Bruiser Flint came away with a positive feeling from last night's preseason game against the California Midwest All-Stars, even though the Minutemen lost 83-82 before 3,762 at the Mullins Center.

"I was really pleased with the new guys, especially Willie Jenkins and Jameel Pugh," Flint said. "Willie's not bashful, he opens it up, and you've got to cover him. And Jameel did some things tonight he hadn't been doing in practice, especially on defense."

Jenkins, a 6-foot-6 freshman swingman, swished 3-pointers on his first two shots, and finished with 12 points. Pugh, a 6-5 freshman guard, scored eight for UMass, which plays its second and final preseason game Friday against Statmaster.com.

Jackie Rogers challenges the defender.

Point guard Shannon Crooks hit 7 of 10 shots and led UMass with 17 points. Junior college transfer Jackie Rogers scored 11, and Syracuse transfer Eric Williams had 10 with a team-high nine rebounds in their Minutemen debuts, and senior center Kitwana Rhymer scored 10.

"We got the ball down the floor quickly, and that style works well for me," said Rogers, a 6-8 junior. It being the first time for me playing with these other players, I felt good."

"I was more than satisfied," Crooks said. "The guys picked up the plays pretty well, and what they might have forgotten here and there, they more than made up for with intensity."

Trailing by 12 late in the first half, UMass charged back to make it a seesaw game, and took an 82-81 lead on Crooks' layup with 17.7 seconds left. But former Indiana player Charlie Miller, falling backward as he shot, hit a jumper from just inside the 3-point arc with 3 seconds left to win it.

Forward Michael Gill, a 6-6 former California star, scored 26 points, and Miller added 16 for the All-Stars. Gill's output revealed one of last night's UMass drawbacks � an inconsistent showing in the areas of rebounding and interior defense.

"Certain guys had a tough time playing together," said Flint, who substituted liberally to learn what would and wouldn't work. "Kit and Eric had a tough time together, and neither could guard Gill, though Jackie did a pretty good job on him."

UMass was also outrebounded 45-36. But it's a sign of different times that the Minutemen took 20 shots from 3-point range even without Monty Mack, who is suspended through the Nov. 18 opener against Iona.

"We've got more guys who can shoot it," Flint said after UMass hit nine 3-pointers. "Actually, I think Ronell Blizzard should have taken a couple he didn't take, after we went inside out a couple of times. I don't mind our guys shooting it if they're open."

Jenkins and Pugh were a combined 4 for 11 from 3-point range.

Flint said the Minutemen could have pressed a little more defensively, except that All-Stars coach Price Johnson had asked UMass not to do so, since the visitors brought only eight players. On the other hand, Flint said he asked the All-Stars not to play zone defense, and they played it anyway for the first 10 minutes.

MHERST - A late 3-pointer by Charlie Miller gave the California All-Stars an 83-82 win over the University of Massachusetts in exhibition action at the Mullins Center Friday, but UMass coach Bruiser Flint said he was pleased overall with his team's first showing.

Jonathan DePina missed a would-be game-winning shot at the buzzer. Flint said in a normal game he would have called time-out to set a play and put his best offensive personnel into the game. But he wasn't concerned with the result.

Ronell Blizzard gets the ball up to Jon DePina.

"With a minute to go I just told them to run," Flint said. "Forget the buzzer. Just keep playing. I didn't do anything situational tonight. I just wanted to see guys play."

Flint said that the team will approach next Friday's exhibition against Statmaster.com (7 p.m.) more like a real game.

Shannon Crooks led four Minutemen in double figures with 17 points (7-for-10 shooting), while Eric Williams gathered a team-high nine rebounds.

Four new UMass players made their debuts last night:

* Willie Jenkins was the most impressive of the newcomers, quickly becoming a favorite of the 3,762 in attendance by making his first two 3-pointers. He finished with 12 points, four rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes.

With Monty Mack serving the first game of his three-game suspension, Jenkins got a lot of playing time at shooting guard.

* Jameel Pugh played only 13 minutes and missed his only dunk attempt, but he made a pair of threes and finished with eight points.

"Jameel surprised me. He hasn't even played that well in practice," Flint said. "He played well today. He played with a lot of confidence. He hasn't been attacking the basket in practice and he did a little bit of that today. He's been horrible on defense and he wasn't bad on defense today. He just played."

* Williams came close to his stated goal of 10 boards, but struggled to shoot from close making only four of 10 shots most of which came inside.

* Jackie Rogers struggled early but improved as the game progressed, scoring 11 points. Foul trouble limited him to 19 minutes of action.

"I was real pleased with the new guys," Flint said. "Especially Willie and Jameel. Jackie played OK. Everybody had their moments. I thought the new guys all did pretty well."

UMass looked shaky in the first half and the All-Stars built a lead that reached double-digits, but the Minutemen closed to 43-37 at halftime.

Outside shooting from Crooks and Pugh jump-started a second half spurt by UMass where it pulled ahead 72-68.

The All-Stars outscored UMass 15-10 in the final 4:42 to pull out the tight victory.

"I thought we looked a little tentative in the first 15 minutes," Flint said. "But in the last five minutes of the first half and in the second half I thought we played the way we can play."

Despite superior size, the Minutemen struggled on the boards, as they were outrebounded 45-36. Micah Brand and Rogers combined for only two boards.

"I told my big guys I wish we had rebounded the ball better," Flint said. "We missed a lot of easy shots around the basket. We had a tendency to just jump at balls."

All clips in MPEG format.
Shannon Crooks gets away from traffic to complete the reverse layup. (file size = 120k)
Graceful? Not really, but Jackie Rogers still gets 2 out of it. (128k)
Great ball movement all for naught as Micah Brand gets stuffed. (136k)
Jameel Pugh breaks free but can't finish the jam. (240k)
Dunking not working? Pugh steps behind the arc and knocks down the 3-ball. (288k)
Eric Williams does windows, following up on a miss for 2. (232k)
CA All-Star Charlie Miller hits his shot, and the Minutemen can't pull out a last-second winner. (376k)

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