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Michigan pulls away from Saint Louis, punches ticket to Sweet 16
By David Wasson
Published:
The top-seeded Michigan Wolverines survived a first-half scare from ninth-seeded Saint Louis before pulling away for a 95-72 victory Saturday in a Midwest Region second-round NCAA Tournament game.
The Wolverines (33-3) advance to the Sweet 16 for the 20th time in March Madness history and will play either fifth-seeded Texas Tech or fourth-seeded Alabama on March 27 in Chicago. Saint Louis, the A-10 Conference regular season champions, see their season end at 29-6.
Michigan flirted with the century mark for the second straight time this March Madness after thumping 16th-seeded Howard 101-80 on Thursday. Five players scored in double figures for the Wolverines, led by Yaxel Lendeborg’s 25 points.
The Billikens hung with the Wolverines throughout much of the first half and led 27-25 at the 9:59 mark, before heading to halftime down 48-39. Michigan outscored Saint Louis 47-33 to steadily pull away.
Aday Mara scored 16 points, Morez Johnson Jr. dropped 15 points, Elliot Cadeau chipped in 12 points and Nimari Burnett added 11 points for Michigan. Amari McCottry scored 14 points for Saint Louis and Dion Brown added 13 points.
Michigan outrebounded Saint Louis 42-27 and was better in the paint by a 42-30 scoring margin.
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An APSE national award-winning writer and page designer, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.