College basketball: Michigan 55, UCLA 52. I’m about to post Part III of my epic Mark Dantonio trilogy, which was inspired by MSU football’s “program win” over Wisconsin. Well, John Beilein’s U-M basketball team had a pretty significant program win of its own last night, toppling #4 UCLA 55-52 at Madison Square Garden in the semifinals of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer.

DeShawn Sims was the star, scoring 18 points on a night when Manny Harris was only 5-13 from the floor (15 points). Michigan forced 17 turnovers and held the Bruins’ top scorers, Darren Collison and Josh Shipp, to a combined 18 points on 7-19 shooting.

Beilein tried to downplay the win: “Early-season wins are always terrific, but you have to really put them into perspective,” he said. “That was November basketball.”

But this win is huge for Beilein and for Michigan. Not only is it Beilein’s first win over a ranked team, but it’s Michigan’s first win over a top-five opponent since the 1997-98 season when they beat #1 Duke in Ann Arbor. And now they face #8 Duke in the finals of the 2K Sports tournament tonight. Box.

NBA: Boston 98, Detroit 80. The Pistons couldn’t pull off two marquee wins in two days. After a big W over the Cavs on Wednesday (box), the Celtics thumped Detroit in the second game of the Pistons’ back-to-back.  Four points for Tayshaun Prince, none for Rodney Stuckey. No program win here. Box.