NCAA Game Summary - Rutgers vs. Michigan

New York, NY (Basketball News) - Daniel Horton scored 14 points to lead the Michigan Wolverines over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 62-55, for the National Invitation Tournament crown at Madison Square Garden.

Dion Harris added 13 points for Michigan, which earned its second official NIT crown. The Wolverines (23-11) also won the titles in 1984 and ’97, but the latter was later striped due to NCAA violations.

Those same NCAA penalties nearly cost Michigan a chance to play in the post- season this year, but the school won an appeal of the sanctions last September.

Rutgers’ Herve Lamizana ended his collegiate career by nearly posting a triple-double, scoring 19 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and blocking nine shots. Ricky Shields added 16 points for the Scarlet Knights (20-13), who missed out on their first NIT title in their first championship game appearance.

Trailing 41-29 after Horton hit a three-pointer 3:25 into the second half, Rutgers came to life and went on a 15-2 run to take a 44-43 lead. Quincy Douby’s first basket of the game with 16:24 left started the run and ended an 0-for-8 shooting drought for the point guard. Shields, who had seven points during the burst, ended it with a jumper at the 10:56 mark.

Later, with the game tied at 48-48, Michigan scored nine straight points to clinch the game. Courtney Sims’ jumper with 5:10 left gave the Wolverines the lead for good and Bernard Robinson’s free throw with 1:04 left capped the burst.

Rutgers went 4:25 without a point during the Michigan run. A pair of Marquis Webb free throws with 58 ticks left ended the drought.

Poor Michigan free throw shooting in the final minute allowed the Scarlet Knights to remain within striking distance. The Wolverines hit only 2-of-6 from the stripe as the Scarlet Knights managed to narrow the lead to 59-55 with 19 seconds left.

However, that is as close as Rutgers would get as Michigan hit three of its final four free throws to ice the game.

Douby, who lifted Rutgers with a 35-point performance in the semifinal round, finished with only two points on 1-of-13 shooting before fouling out with 10 seconds left.

Rutgers finished shooting only 24-of-69 from the field and 3-of-20 from three- point range. Michigan didn’t fare much better, going 21-of-58 from the floor, including 4-of-15 from beyond the arc. However, the difference was at the free throw line, where Michigan went 16-of-27 and Rutgers ended only 4-of-9.

The first half also saw Rutgers struggle from the field. After going ahead 16-14 just 8:36 into the half, the Scarlet Knights went over seven minutes without a point. Lamizana’s jumper with 5:10 left ended the drought, but Michigan had run off 11 straight points over the span to go ahead 25-16.

Rutgers later drew within 28-23 on a Lamizana tip of his own miss with 1:47 remaining, but Michigan went into the break ahead 32-25 after scoring four of the final six points of the half.

Rutgers shot only 1-of-9 from three-point range and 11-of-37 overall in the first half. Douby epitomized Rutgers’ struggles, going 0-for-7 from the field in the opening 20 minutes. Michigan, on the other hand, shot 12-of-30 from the field and 6-of-11 from the free throw line. Rutgers had only two first-half free throw attempts.