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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- There would be no easing into the season opener for Michigan. The Wolverines were held scoreless for over five minutes at the beginning of their game against Howard.Ive been coaching a long time, and what Howard did defensively, was something, I dont recall seeing it, actually, Michigan coach John Beilein said. Its an aggressive matchup zone, and theyre taking things away, and theyre really flying around with great quickness.The Wolverines eventually overcame that tough defense. Derrick Walton scored 14 of his 20 points in the first half, and Michigan fought through a poor shooting night to beat Howard 76-58 on Friday.The Wolverines ended up shooting just 42 percent from the field. The Bison trailed 41-36 with under 12 minutes remaining in the game before Michigan asserted itself.Mark Donnal scored 12 points for Michigan, and Zak Irvin added 11.Damon Collins scored 12 points for Howard, which was without guard James Daniel, the nations leading scorer last season. He is expected to miss about another month with a high ankle sprain.Free throws helped boost Michigans margin in a foul-filled game. The Wolverines went 23 of 26 from the line, while Howard was just 14 of 29.Were so used to Daniel making that play for us, Howard coach Kevin Nickelberry said. Hes an 80 percent free-throw shooter. He makes big 3s. ... Weve got to get used to, those moments are not just his moments anymore. For six or seven games, its their moments.Michigans scoreless stretch to open the game was finally broken when Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman made a couple 3-pointers. The Wolverines led 34-25 at halftime.It was 41-36 when Howards Solomon Mangham missed two free throws. Irvin made a jumper at the other end, and Michigan slowly began extending the lead. It was 49-38 after a 3-pointer by Irvin.BIG PICTUREHoward: The Bison were picked to win the MEAC in a preseason poll of coaches and sports information directors, and they did a good job staying in the game against Michigan despite Daniels absence.Michigan: It wasnt the prettiest game, but perhaps thats not the worst thing for the Wolverines, who are trying to improve their defense this season and show they can grind out wins even when their offense isnt clicking.ENERGYDonnal had six rebounds to go along with his dozen points, and fellow backup D.J. Wilson had nine points and eight rebounds.Thats our job, is be energy guys off the bench, Donnal said. D.J. did a good job of getting a few offensive rebounds and keeping a lot of plays alive.NEW ADDITIONSMichigan announced the signing of guard Eli Brooks (Spring Grove, Pennsylvania), forward Isaiah Livers (Kalamazoo, Michigan) and guard Jordan Poole (Milwaukee) to letters of intent for 2017-18.UP NEXTHoward: The Bison take on Marquette on Monday night in Milwaukee. That game -- along with the Howard-Michigan game -- is part of the 2K Classic, which benefits Wounded Warrior Project.Michigan: The Wolverines host IUPUI on Sunday in another 2K Classic game.---For more college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25---Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtristerSoccer Jerseys Outlet .C. United of Major League Soccer. United chose the defender in the second round of the 2013 MLS re-entry draft. Soccer Jerseys China . Dukurs winning time was 1 minute, 45.76 seconds, a quarter-second better than Russias Alexander Tretiakov. Lativas Tomass Dukurs was third, 1.41 seconds off the pace. Jon Montgomery of Eckville, Alta. https://www.soccerjerseyschina.us/ . Toronto has dropped games to Indiana and Miami since a five-game winning streak and closed out a three-game road trip at 1-2. Clearance Soccer Jerseys . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. Replica Soccer Jerseys . LOUIS -- Valtteri Filppula assisted on three of Tampa Bays four goals, and the Lightning beat the St.Lewis Hamilton has scoffed at Sebastian Vettels claim that Mercedes recent dominance has made F1 less exciting.And Hamiltons Silver Arrows team-mate Nico Rosberg has demanded the team are given more credit for their achievements.According to Vettel, who won four successive drivers titles with Red Bull prior to Mercedes becoming F1s pre-eminent force, the dominance of Mercedes in the past two years took away a lot of excitement for the fans. But a bemused Hamilton told Sky Sports: Its pretty funny because he had four years of it and lve only had two. Until l get to his level l wont have bored them as much as he had!Talking points for winter testingWhile Hamiltons response was made with tongue in cheek, Rosberg has urged his teams critics to stop sniping.To anybody who says that l would ask that there is a lot of hard work behind us, we are where we are because we are the best at the moment. It would be nice to be a bit more respectful to our achievements, said the German. Mercedes, who revealed the first official pictures of their new 2016 car on Sunday morning, have won 32 of the 38 races since the start of 2014 but are expected to face a much closer challenge from Ferrari this year.dddddddddddd#160;Both Hamilton and Vettel are scheduled to drive their respective new cars - the W07 and the SF16-H - when pre-season testing starts in Barcelona on Monday.New 2016 cars are releasedThe first Barcelona test starts on Monday February 22 and the Sky Sports F1 Digital team will be providing live commentary from dawn until dusk on all four days of both Barcelona tests while Sky Sports News HQ will also deliver live updates from trackside.Also See:New Ferrari car is a revolutionMercedes reveal the W07 ' ' '