Minutemen lose to Bears
By Marty Dobrow, Daily Hampshire Gazette Staff, 11/28/96

MAUI - From March of 1993 until the end of last year, the University of Massachusetts had lost only 15 games. Every single one had been followed by a win.

Photo
Cal's Tony Gonzalez is sandwiched by Tyrone Weeks and Lari Ketner.
The streak is now over. UMass' 59-55 loss to California last night was the Minutemen's second straight in the Maui Invitational, dropping the Minutemen to 1-2. Ironically, though, in the loss to California UMass may have found the very thing that the now-snapped streak represented in the first place: its toughness and resiliency.

"Those first two games (a victory over Chaminade and a loss to Virginia) we struggled because of a lack of effort," said Carmelo Travieso, who led UMass with 19 points. "Today we had the old UMass intensity."

"I told my guys that I want them to get better every day," said head coach Bruiser Flint. "I didn't think we got better yesterday against Virginia. But I thought we got better today."

California was led by Ed Gray, who capped a brilliant tournament with 24 points. The Golden Bears hurt UMass with their big players on the boards, outrebounding UMass, 47-36, and fouling Lari Ketner out of the game after just 16 minutes.

The Minutemen got the 19 from Travieso, 14 from Tyrone Weeks and 10 important points from Winston Smith. The freshman forward had the best showing of any UMass newcomer in the tournament, galvanizing the Minutemen in the first half after a sluggish start.

Photo
Fifteen turnovers cost the Minutemen in the end.
UMass had trouble executing the big plays down the stretch. Trailing 56-55 with 24.8 seconds left, the Minutemen caught a break when Prentice McGruder missed two free throws. UMass could not control the rebound, however, and Gray got fouled with 20 seconds left. He hit one of two free throws to extend the lead to 57-55.

Edgar Padilla steamed downcourt, lost his footing, but shoveled a pass out to Travieso in the right corner. Travieso, thinking the game clock was about to tick down, fired up an off-balance 3-pointer that barely caught the rim. McGruder grabbed the rebound, got fouled and sank both free throws to seal the win.

UMass is now 1-2, owners of a losing record for the first time since starting off the 1992-93 season 0-1. The 17th-ranked Minutemen will now likely fall out of the AP rankings for the first time in years.

Still, Flint felt confident that he had seen some seeds of better times in the defeat.

"We didn't shoot well (38.5 percent), but if we keep playing defense like that, we will win some games," he said. "I saw some signs."


California Golden Bears 59
Massachusetts Minutemen (#17) 55
The Maui Invitational, 3rd-place game
at the Lahaina Civic Center, Maui HI

CALIFORNIA (59)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Gray            35  9-19   5-6   1-3  1  3   24
Marks           29  3-10   0-0   5-9  0  1    6
Stewart         26   2-6   3-5   2-7  0  3    7
Duck            32   3-6   1-2   0-1  0  0    8
Mcgruder        26   1-2  6-10   2-9  7  0    8
Jones           12   1-6   1-3   4-8  1  2    3
Mcqueen         24   1-5   0-0   2-2  2  1    2
Jackson          3   0-1   0-2   0-0  0  1    0
Gonzalez        13   0-1   1-2   2-3  0  0    1
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 20-56 17-30 18-42 11 11   59
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.357, FT-.567. 3-Point Goals:
2-13, .154 (Gray 1-3, Marks 0-2, Duck 1-3,
Mcgruder 0-1, Mcqueen 0-3, Jackson 0-1). Team
rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 7 (Stewart 4, Marks
2, Jones). Turnovers: 16 (Stewart 4, Gray 3,
Mcgruder 3, Jones 2, Duck, Gonzalez, Marks,
Mcqueen). Steals: 7 (Marks 3, Duck 2, Mcgruder,
Mcqueen).

MASSACHUSETTS (55)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Smith           29  5-12   0-0   5-7  1  3   10
Weeks           38  6-16   2-3   5-9  1  3   14
Norville        24   0-2   0-0   1-6  0  4    0
Padilla         39  3-15   0-0   1-2  5  2    6
Travieso        39  8-17   0-0   0-4  4  3   19
Clarke           2   0-0   0-0   1-1  0  0    0
Ketner          16   2-2   0-2   1-4  0  5    4
Babul           11   1-1   0-1   2-3  1  0    2
Basit            2   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 25-65   2-6 16-36 12 21   55
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.385, FT-.333. 3-Point Goals:
3-16, .188 (Padilla 0-9, Travieso 3-7). Team
rebounds: None. Blocked shots: 8 (Norville 3,
Weeks, Padilla, Travieso, Ketner, Babul).
Turnovers: 15 (Ketner 3, Norville 2, Padilla 2,
Smith 2, Travieso 2, Weeks 2, Basit, Clarke).
Steals: 11 (Padilla 4, Travieso 4, Weeks 2,
Smith).
__________________________________
California         31   28  -   59
Massachusetts      28   27  -   55
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 2,500. Officials: Tom
Rucker, Donnie Gray, John Cahill.

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