In Michigan’s second game of the season, an 84-49 rout of
High Point, freshman Brent Petway played 18 minutes, recording 12
points and seven rebounds.

Over the next four contests, Petway saw the court regularly,
playing at least 17 minutes in all of those games.

Since then, the forward’s game action has dwindled
significantly, to the point where he didn’t even play in the
Wolverines’ loss at Michigan State on Jan. 17.

But with the Wolverines stuck in a three-game losing streak, and
needing some energy to get over the hump against Penn State,
Michigan coach Tommy Amaker turned to Petway.

And the youngster responded.

After Penn State had trimmed a second-half Michigan lead from 14
to nine, Petway abruptly halted the run with an emphatic alley-oop
dunk.

Four minutes later, Petway flew to the rim again, perfectly
timed a miss by teammate Bernard Robinson, and threw down a
one-handed putback slam.

“On the road, I’m probably my most juiced up,”
Petway said. “I actually like any kind of crowd — but
if it’s on the road, I’m more energized.”

Petway also grabbed a defensive rebound, blocked two shots and
forced the Nittany Lions to rethink a number of shot attempts in
the lane.

“He was able to change and block some shots,” Amaker
said. “I thought the way Petway finished down the stretch was
critical for us. His 11 minutes were very valuable.”

Petway’s incredible leaping ability means that he’s
always a threat to come through with a show-stopping block or
dunk.

Case in point was the alley-oop tossed by Daniel Horton to
Petway on Saturday, which effectively ended any comeback hopes the
Nittany Lions had.

“Coach drew that play up for me,” Petway said.
“It was basically a momentum play, an impact play to get us
fired up.”

Earlier in the week Petway had said that, despite the lack of
playing time recently, he was able to avoid becoming frustrated,
realizing that his talents are best utilized when the matchups are
favorable.

On Saturday, that was the case.

“(Amaker) has been telling him to just be ready,”
Michigan sophomore Lester Abram said. “And then today he got
in and had some pretty productive minutes. That was pretty big for
Brent.”

Petway’s improved play could prove to be a huge boost for
the Wolverines during the conference season.

With the grind of the Big Ten often testing a team’s
depth, Petway’s continued contribution would simply make the
Wolverines that much deeper.

“We need each and every last one of these guys,”
Robinson said. “Teams can’t focus on all of us, so
it’s important to have everyone ready to play and producing
for us.”

Petway also helped in shutting down Penn State’s leading
scorer, Jan Jagla.

The Wolverines employed a defense-by-committee attack on Jagla,
using the quickness of Petway, J.C. Mathis, Robinson and Abram to
defend against the 7-foot center.

In the end, all of the efforts on both ends of the floor allowed
Petway to do something he hasn’t always been able to do
— enjoy a win that he had played a big part in.

“It feels real good to contribute to a big win,”
Petway said. “It was big to have some momentum coming back to
take our home court back.”