Michigan Opens Season With 77-55 Win.

The Michigan basketball team officially opened the 2008-09 season at the 2K Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer on Tuesday night at Crisler Arena. Manny Harris led all scorers with 30 points as the Maize and Blue coasted to a 77-55 win over Michigan Tech in the second game of the Crisler Arena regional.

ANN ARBOR -- Manny Harris led all scorers with 30-points, including 3-of-5 shooting from three-point land, and juniors Zach Gibson and DeShawn Sims added 11 and 10 points each as the Michigan basketball team opened the 2008-09 season with a 77-55 win over the Michigan Tech Huskies Tuesday night at Crisler Arena.

Advancing to the second round of the 2K Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer, the Wolverines (1-0) will meet another bunch of Huskies, this time from Northeastern University, Wednesday night at 8 p.m. for the right to travel to New York City for a possible showdown with UCLA.

For all the struggles in the back-and-forth first half with Saginaw Valley State in the Wolverines only exhibition contest, the opener that counted was all Maize-and-Blue.

Anthony Wright connected on a pair of three-balls with Michigan's first offensive opportunities, and the Wolverines never looked back. Preseason All-Big 10 selection Manny Harris scored 18 of his 30 in guiding Michigan to a 42-24 halftime lead.

The lead grew to 10-points for the first time of the contest at 17-7 thanks to a Kelvin Grady lay up with just less than 12 minutes left in the opening half. The team kept rolling.

DeShawn Sims scored Michigan's next four points on a lay up and jumper to stretch the lead to 21-10. Harris then added another lay up and a pair of free throws, sandwiched around a Michigan Tech bucket, and David Merritt struck from long range to make it 28-12 Michigan with 6:10 in the half.

Harris then scored nine of the Wolverines final 14 points of the half, just one shy of the final 10 points scored by the entire Michigan Tech team over the final five minutes.

Michigan Tech trimmed the halftime lead to 10 points with a brief comeback effort to open the second half. Chris Baugh opened the half with four quick Husky points. A Robby Springborn triple, followed by an old fashioned three-point play from Sean Geary made it 45-35.

It got no closer, though, as Harris snuffed out a potential comeback with a made-basket and a foul on a put back underneath on a David Merritt miss.

The Huskies answered with two on their next possession, but a 9-0 run over the next 2:30 gave Michigan its first 20-point lead. DeShawn Sims hit on a low-post turnaround bucket, and Zach Gibson drew a foul and hit a pair at the line shortly after. Harris added another three-ball, and Sims ended the run with another 2-point lay in.

The teams exchanged buckets over the final 10 minutes of the contest, Michigan Tech getting back within 15 points at one time, but never closer.

Freshmen Zack Novak and Ben Cronin each finished with two points in the first game of their Michigan careers.

Michigan and Northeastern, 73-60 winners over IUPUI, will meet in the regional final of the annual preseason tournament tomorrow night at Crisler Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.