Last week the men's gymnastics team learned the meaning of flawless -- a meet with only one major break out of 36 routines. Saturday night at Michigan State, the Lions learned the meaning of frustration --one third of the 36 routines contained major breaks.

Despite the inconsistency, the Lions managed a 277.00 to edge the Spartans (274.85) and the University of Wisconsin (255.80).

"With 12 breaks, that means breaks all over -- on all events," Coach Karl Schier said. "Again we had young people away from home and away from the home crowd, all of the normal excuses. But to drop from one to 12 breaks is frustrating."

Two Lion gymnasts did not suffer the mishaps their teammates did. Freshman Mike Masucci and junior Jamie Downer finished first and second in the all-around, respectively. Masucci scored a 55.95 while Downer tallied 55.65.

For Downer, this was the second consecutive meet that he hit all six routines. He also took first on the floor exercise with a career-high 9.70. Schier said he knew all along he could expect high scores from Downer.

"Jamie must be on top of his program or else he becomes unglued," Schier said. "We made changes on five of six routines and now he seems to have it right."

Sophomore Wayne Cowden took third in the all-around with a disappointing 54.95, only the second time this season he has scored below 55. Schier said most of Cowden's problems were on the last three events. Cowden fell off the high bar and scored 8.9, managed an 8.9 on vault and an 8.85 on parallel bars.

"He jammed his finger on p-bars, which was the first event in the second rotation for us," Schier said. "But is was nothing serious. Wayne's got to get back on track for us."

The vault, which seemed to be on the road to improvement last week, caused major problems for the Lions again Saturday. The team could muster only 45.05 on that event.

On the other events, however, the Lions led with winners. Team captain Mark Sohn scored a 9.9 on pommel horse to win the event.

"It was the best meet of his life -- so far," Schier said. "I don't think the judges had the courage to throw the 10. It's tough to say you've seen perfection, but I would've given the 10."

Cowden redeemed himself on rings with a career-high 9.75 and first-place honors. Masucci took first on high bar with a 9.6 and sophomore Mike Reichenbach tallied 9.5 for first on parallel bars.

This meet concluded the regular season for the Lions. In three weeks they will host the Eastern Regionals -- the qualifying meet for NCAAs.