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INDIANAPOLIS -- No. 8 Michigan ended 15 years of Big Ten tournament frustration Saturday. Theres still some work to do before it can really celebrate. After blowing a 12-point second-half lead against its most bitter rival, Michigan closed the game with a 7-1 run and survived a potential tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds for its first tourney win over No. 24 Ohio State, 72-69. "We werent thinking about winning the Big Ten Conference championship, the tournament," Big Ten player of the year Nik Stauskas said. "We were thinking about just beating Ohio State. This is a rivalry game." For the Big Ten regular-season champs, it was a big moment. Michigan (25-7) hadnt won a semifinal game since 1998, when it won the inaugural tourney title only to vacate it because of NCAA rules violations. Since then, the Wolverines hadnt even won two straight games in the league tourney and had lost all six times it played the dreaded Buckeyes in Indianapolis or Chicago. Not this time. The top-seeded Wolverines started the game with an offensive flurry and ended it with a stout defensive stretch that ended with Buckeyes guard Aaron Craft losing control of the ball as he tried a 3-pointer that could have forced overtime. Instead, the Wolverines came up with the loose ball to eliminate the conferences defending tourney champion. Stauskas finished with 18 points. Ohio native Caris LeVert had 17 points and seven rebounds and Glenn Robinson III wound up with 11 points, including two free throws that gave Michigan the lead for good with 2:55 to play. The Wolverines won their seventh straight in large part because they were 12 of 23 on 3-pointers against the Big Tens top-rated 3-point defence and didnt allow a basket over the final four minutes. The only thing sweeter than beating the Buckeyes would be winning Sundays title game against No. 22 Michigan State. The Wolverines won both games against the third-seeded Spartans this season. Michigan State advanced with an 85-73 win over second-seeded Wisconsin in the second semifinal. "Those are the three best defensive teams in our league. Theyre just really difficult to score points on," coach John Beilein said, referring to the Badgers, Buckeyes and Spartans. But getting to Sunday wasnt easy, either. Michigan blew a 13-point lead in Fridays quarterfinal victory, surviving a scare from ninth-seeded Illinois when Jordan Morgans layup rolled in with 7.9 seconds to go and Illinois guard Tracy Abrams missed a driving layup at the buzzer. It was more of the same Saturday. Michigan led by as much as 16 in the first half and 12 in the second and still needed another late miscue to seal the win. Ohio State (25-9) was led by LaQuinton Ross with 19 points and Shannon Scott with 18, nearly pulling off a second stunning comeback in two days. After digging out of an 18-point deficit to beat Nebraska in Fridays quarterfinals, the Buckeyes wound up losing for only the third time in 10 games. "I feel like as a team when our heads underwater, we start fighting more," Scott said. "We started doing that again today." Ohio State, which struggled to open both halves, just couldnt finish this one off. Michigan opened the game with three straight 3s and led 15-2 after its opening flurry. The Buckeyes clawed back late in the half, getting within 41-37. But Ohio State gave up three more 3s to open the second half, allowing the Spartans to push the lead to 54-42 with 16:02 left. Again the Buckeyes rallied, using a 10-2 spurt that ended with Sam Thompsons alley-oop dunk, giving Ohio State its first lead at 61-60. Thats when last years national runner-up buckled down defensively. Michigan cut the Ohio State lead to 68-67 on an 18-foot jumper from Stauskas and regained the lead when Robinson made the two free throws. The Buckeyes couldnt get anything to go over the final four minutes, missing five straight shots and three of four free throws before Craft said the ball slipped out of his hands at the end. "I feel so fortunate right now," Beilein said. "You look at so many of our games down the stretch here, theyve ended just like this and the ball keeps bouncing our way. You only can have that type of luck if you have guys like these guys sitting next to me. They make enough smart plays to keep you in the game, and some games the ball will just bounce your way." Adidas Jerseys . The Los Angeles Clippers showed them just how ugly that life could be. Jared Dudley scored a season-high 21 points, Chris Paul added 16 points and 17 assists, and the Clippers jumped all over the Bulls in Roses absence for a 121-82 victory Sunday. Wholesale Jerseys . In the opener of the World Group first-round series, world No. 18 Kei Nishikori defeated Peter Polansky of Thornhill, Ont. https://www.cheapjerseysjustwholesale.com/ . -- Claudio Bieler hadnt scored since early September, and not from the run of play since mid-July. MLB Jerseys .com) - The Pittsburgh Penguins will try to complete a sweep of the Washington Capitals when the clubs cap a quick home-and-home series Tuesday night in the Steel City. Cheap Jerseys From China .9 million deal Thursday. The 25-year McGinn had 19 goals and 19 assists in 79 games last season in helping the Avalanche tie a franchise record with 52 wins.Sky Sports Voice of Football Martin Tyler is commentating for UEFA in France throughout Euro 2016 and hell be sharing his thoughts on the colour and excitement of the event here on skysports.com. First up he reflects on the opening match and a big night for France… I am in the French capital, but it was a case of London calling at the Stade de France tonight.First of all Tottenhams Hugo Lloris made a superb save at the start of the match; then Arsenals Olivier Giroud scored the opening goal of the tournament; before West Hams Dimitri Payet scored the goal that sealed a tremendous win for France over Romania. The result means France have lifted the curse of the opening match at European Championships. They are only the second host nation in the last eight to win the first game after Belgium in 2000.Prior that, the last hosts to win their opening match were France themselves in 1984, who remain the last hosts to win a European Championship. I covered that tournament, which was defined by Michel Platini after he scored all those wonderful goals.Now Payet has the chance to be the Platini of Euro 2016. Tonight he made one for Giroud and then scored a sensational goal and appeared very moved as he was substituted near the end of the game. Dimitri Payet was the man of the match in Paris During my commentary for UEFAs world feed I commented with five minutes to go that France would surely get one more chance at 1-1 to win the game - but I was wrong! Payets goal could hardly be described as a chance.Im still buzzing as I write this and my co-commentator, Alan Smith, said there wont be a better goal scored in the tournament.Payet was deservedly named man of the match, even before his goal, and his name was called out four times to huge cheers as the players did a mini lap of honour at the end. Olivier Giroud celebrates scoring Frances opening goal a Meanwhile, Giroud has scored eight in eight now and seems to be winning the supporters over. In the last warm-up match against Scotland, Patrice Evra pointed to the name on tthe back of his shirt as if to say look, hes good and he made an important contribution against Romania.ddddddddddddAlan has obviously been compared with Giroud, and despite failing to score with two good headed chances he kept going and got his goal eventually. It was nice to see the Premier League have such an impact on the first game. I commented with five minutes to go that France would surely get one more chance at 1-1 to win the game - but I was wrong! Payets goal could hardly be described as a chance. Martin Tyler It was a really good start to the tournament and the opening game can set the standard for what follows. For all of us out here it has really whetted our appetite for what lies ahead.France might not be the most passionate football country in the world, but this tournament seems to have ignited the place and the atmosphere inside the stadium was absolutely excellent.I must say, the opening ceremony had the most seamless transition into the match I have ever seen. It was almost as though the match was an extension of the ceremony itself. DJ David Guetta performed during the opening ceremony The songs were being sung and then suddenly the Republican Guard and a choir appeared along with the players. It was totally seamless and very stylish.I must admit the star of the opening ceremony, David Guetta, is not my cup of tea but Alan really loved it. He has been educating me over the last couple of days and it has been an important part of our preparation!In all seriousness though, its been a difficult build-up for France going into this tournament following the events of last November and the industrial problems taking place at the moment, so they deserved a good night.With a little help from some of Londons Premier League stars, they certainly had one. Also See: Payet stunner thrills France As it happened Paul Mersons predictions Balagues star men ' ' '