Sports: Michigan to NCAA Tourney

Michigan in First Four

The Michigan basketball team shook off a poor shooting start to take down Tulsa, 67-62, Wednesday night at the University of Dayton Arena.

Guard Duncan Robinson finished with his first career double-double, scoring 13 points and adding 11 rebounds. Muhammed-Ali Abdur-Rahkman and Zack Irvin co-led the team with 16 points each. Senior guard Derrick Walton Jr. added 12 points.

With the win, the Wolverines advance to the first round of the NCAA Tournament, traveling to Brooklyn, New York, to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at 9:40 p.m. Friday.

MSU Basketball

No. 2 Michigan State plays Middle Tennessee State on Friday.   WBCK will have the game live at 1:30pm.

MSU Women in tournament

The fourth seeded MSU women's basketball team will play 13th-seeded Belmont on Friday at noon.

CIT Tourney

Central Michigan lost to UT Martin 76-73 Wednesday night in the CIT basketball tournament.

NBA/Pistons

The Pistons lost to the Hawks 118-114. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope led the team with 24 points. Reggie Jackson had a double-double with 17 points and 10 assists. The Pistons (34-34) remain ninth in the Eastern Conference, percentage points behind the Chicago Bulls for the last playoff spot. The Bulls also lost Wednesday.  Detroit hosts the Kings on Friday, the Nets on Saturday.  They also have home games Monday and Wednesday against the Bucks and the Magic.

High School Boys Basketball Regionals

Homer lost to Kalamazoo Hackett 66-48 in a regional final at Gobles.  Homer's season ends at 17-7.

Girls Basketball

The Marshall girls’ basketball team is headed to the state’s final four will take on the second-ranked Bay City John Glenn on Friday the Breslin Center at MSU.  Tip-off is at 7:50pm.

Red Wings

The Red play their next three games on the road, stopping in Columbus tonight. With 79 points, Detroit is one point out of the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Tigers

Mike Gerber, Bryan Holaday and Ian Kinsler hit home runs Wednesday afternoon to lead the Tigers to a 7-3 win over the Houston Astros.  Gerber became the 17th Tigers player to hit a home run in Grapefruit League play this spring when he pulled a solo home run over the wall in right field to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead with two outs in the second inning.   Two batters later, Holaday hit a two-run home run to tie J.D. Martinez and Steven Moya for the team lead with four.  Kinsler led off the sixth inning with a solo home run to give the Tigers a 4-0 lead.  The Tigers (10-6-1) have hit 32 home runs this spring, the most of any team in the majors.   Detroit takes on the Cardinals this afternoon.

Sanchez Gets Clean Bill of Health

Anibal Sanchez is back in the Detroit Tigers starting rotation.  Sanchez felt good after throwing 45 pitches in a simulated game Wednesday morning and is scheduled to start Monday afternoon for the Tigers in Lakeland against the Philadelphia Phillies.  Sanchez has been dealing with right triceps inflammation since Feb. 22, when it first bothered him while throwing a bullpen session.