Freshmen Carry Hoops Past Army

In the Wolverines first game after the beat-down by the Bruins, head coach Tommy Amaker shuffled the line up inserting three freshmen and two sophomores as the Maize and Blue fought past Army 62-50 on Thursday night at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor. Freshmen Reed Baker and DeShawn Sims paced the offense with 19 and 13 points a piece.

All it took was a little shake up.

After dropping Saturday’s contest to No. 1 UCLA in embarrassing fashion, Tommy Amaker elected to go with a new group of Wolverines in Thursday night's home contest with Army.

Making his first career start, Reed Baker paced the Michigan offense with a career high 19 points in just 29 minutes. Baker also connected on five of his seven shots from behind the three-point arc and hauled in four rebounds.

DeShawn Sims, the Wolverines' highly touted freshman from Detroit, also made his first career start for the Maize and Blue and chipped in with 13 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals. Ekpe Udoh led the Michigan defense with nine blocks, seven rebounds and two steals.

Udoh and Sims opened the scoring for the game. Udoh put Michigan on top 2-0 just 13 seconds into the game. After a quick answer from the Black Knights, Sims put Michigan on top again with an old fashioned three-point play.

Army’s Jarrell Brown and Sims proceeded to trade baskets, and after the first seven minutes the Wolverines held onto a small 11-8 lead.

At the 12:00 minute mark the Wolverines went to the bench with the usual starters. Abram came off the bench and hit for a quick two to extend the lead to five points.

Army battled back to take its only lead of the game at 17-15 with nine points sandwiched around a pair of Courtney Sims free throws.

Brent Petway hit to tie the score 17-17 and Baker and DeShawn Sims pushed it to a 10-0 run by the Wolverines with a pair of triples from Baker and a basket from Sims down low.

Jarrell Brown answered with a triple of his own, but Michigan connected on seven straight at the free throw line to push the lead to double digits for the first time at 32-20.

After trading triples in the closing minutes of the half, Jerret Smith hit a long buzzer-beater to put Michigan on top 38-25 at the halfway point.

Army trimmed the lead to eight points with a pair of three-point plays and a jumper from Marcus Nelson 3:28 into the second half. Baker and Petway pushed the lead out to 15 points with a pair of free throws and a downtown shot from Baker minutes later.

Chris Walker trimmed the lead by one with a free throw, but Baker hit from long range again to put the game out of reach. Army got back to within 11 points at 53-42, but Dion Harris connected on his lone field goal of the night to re-extend the lead.

Both teams traded baskets for the remainder of the game and the Wolverines held on for the 12 point win.

Michigan next returns to the hardwood for a noon tip-off with Georgetown on Saturday at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor.