Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • 31

Cal delivers a milestone win said Coach Mike Montgomery mixed and matched fumed and fussed and eventually sat quietly on the bench one leg crossed over the other hands clasped at the knee of it was we were not aggressive enough defen he said you make all your Stanford came startlingly close 1 1 3 spurt head ing into intermission seemed little more than a mood light ener for the halftime cer emony during which Darrell jersey was retired Meanwhile inside the Cal locker room while Christo pher reveled in the unfathom able comeback he knew was coming Montgomery was scheming GARY PETERSON Columnist BERKELEY A HER IT WAS over ZX after Cal had rallied Xfrom a 22 point deficit to beat hated Stanford to the ear splitting delight of a delirious crowd that included basketball alumni dating back to ruK tnira term Pat rick Christopher was asked if be ever doubted such an outcome was possible IWell ever since we pfayed that triple overtime Christopher began rqfejTing to his im probable win at Washington sbcwfieks ago honest now" team male Jerome Randle inter rupted 71 am being Christopher said warming to the moment way we weregoing to quit until it was all zeroes on the clock There wasnot a doubt in my mind we were going to win this when living the dream vou can frame it however you want To everyone else in Haas Pavil Cal looked cooked little more than 15 minutes into game More was the pity where the Bears were ANDA CHUSTA I tioii JEB VI J' I the conference schedule with four of six games on the road and on Selection Sunday which has been this glass ceiling four of the past five seasons says a lot about our Christopher said like the Washington No argument there However season ends knew there was a good chance shooting) happen again (in the second he said you sit around and hope So Cal opened the second half with a wild eyed three guard lineup and a one man bench a strategy that was equal parts inspiration and oh what the hell If what happened next wind up with its own dusty alcove in Cal basketball Harper Kamp logged 26 minutes on a knee that would make Dick Butkus cry play ing bigger than his 1 1 points and eight rebounds The win did indeed vault the Bears into a tie for second place It was their 19th of the season the last four Cal teams to win at least 20 went to the NCAA Tournament concerned jJCLA had already 16stT meaning Cal had a shot at jumping up into a three way tie for second place in the Pac 10 standings A large and loud crowd was on hand showering everything Stan ford with open contempt Then there were all those tall guys sitting behind the south basket favorite sons and the center piece of season long celebration of 100 years of THEO ROBERTSON dunks during a big second half rally for Cal after the Bears were down by 22 in the first half hoops It was a first of its kind gathering on a one of a kind afternoon a rocking house party in the making Whereupon Stanford opened the game by hitting 18 of its first 24 shots often to the apparent disinterest of Cal defenders en route to a 47 25 lead determined where they wanted the game to go and we just let Randle history the school needs a new historian Considering the circumstances it was a towering stand alone event if not the equal of the triple overtime game then close enough More intriguing in the short term is what game will mean to this team next week when it visits the Oregon schools ovejJie next month as it concludes it be because the Bears were timid or faint of heart Beyond that they appear to be getting better gaining confidence and dimension as they go revelation was freshman guard Jorge Gutierrez who played all 20 minutes in the second half and finished with 10 points eight rebounds and five steals Sophomore forward gives us Christopher said at the conference (good) teams are losing some teams that playing well are com ing Sometimes over the course of a single afternoon Hon estly Contact Gary Peterson at gpetersonbayareanews groupcom This for Pete Imhoff says of honor ffll Cal retires jersey of center who played on 1959 championship team By Jeff araudo STAWRITER BERKELEY Gal retired Darrall Imhoffs jersey No 40 during halftime ceremonies Saturday at Haas Pavilion but the former All America center said the honor is not his alone singled me out but this is for the team This is Pete Newell's whole Imhoff said before the game times you'd hear him say have any really great players We had a great In fact as part of a celebra tion of 100 seasons of Cal bas ketball the university honored the 50th anniversary of the 1959 team winning the NCAA basketball championship seems like yesterday until you look at your body then it seems like a heck of a long said Earl Schultz a guard on the 1959 and 1960 teams Players from every era of Cal basketball were introduced during timeouts in the game against rival Stanford but this day belonged to the team If there was any regret among the players from that squad that Newell their Hall of ame coach died last November at the age of 93 think it's symbolic for obviously the championship team but all of those good years Pete Schultz said elated about it and happy to see jersey go up there because without him we weren't going any Imhoff is just the fourth Cal men's basketball player to have his jersey retired joining Jason Kidd Kevin Johnson and Al Grigsby Imhoff said he was happy to represent all of his teammates and his coach During the half time ceremony he asked the crowd for a moment of silence to honor Newell just happened to have some success after that" said Imhoff who won an Olympic gold medal in 1960 and was only player to reach the NBA really honors Pete That's what this is all about" Contact Jeff araudo at jeffscribefaaolcom Will Gaels win over I Pilots be stabilizer? Top two seed in WCC tourney still a possibility for Mills less team 1 I By Jennifer Starks STA WRITER MORAGA After recent events debatable whether the Saint College I basketball team can still use the regular season as a plat form for making the NCAA Tournament With just four games re maining and their footing al ready tenuous the big gest priorities perhaps should be continued improvement and their placement in the upcoming West Coast Confer ence tournament Saint did itself a big favor in that re gard Saturday night using a dominant second half to snap a two game losing skid and se cure a 77 65 victory over Port land at McKeon Pavilion A loss to the Pilots would have made it nearly impossible for the Gaels to nab a desirable seed in next confer ence tournament The top two seeds receive byes through the semifinals' and Saint still has a chance to stake its claim to that position The Gaels (20 5 7 4 WCC) remain a half game behind second place Portland with three WCC games left The Pilots (16 9 7 3) have four conference games remaining was a lot at stake in that game besides us getting Saint coach Randy Bennett said kept our hopes alive to get one of the top two With point guard Patty return from a broken hand earmarked for the start of the tournament Saint will need all of the extra time it can get one less said junior center Omar Samhan who was 6 for 10 from the floor and finished with 17 points that time of year one less game is a big differ The postseason re sume could receive a boost with next ESPNU Bracketbsuster game against No 21 Utah State though that matchup lost some of its luster following the 66 56 loss to Boise State on Saturday Utah State had won 19 straight games before the setback In a game in which style points were few and far be tween the Gaels never could get overly comfortable and "take a double digit lead until late in the second half SAINT Mickey McConnell'tries to dribble around TJ Campbell JBL vX Saint 77 Portland 65 PORTLAND (16 9) Niedemeyer 4 0 0 3 Smeulders 3 8 7 9 13 Raivio 6 18 3 5 16 Campbell 6 80 0 15 Knutson 2 5 0 0 4 Ito 2 2 0 0 5 Stohl 2 6 2 2 6 Porter 0 1 0 0 0 Sikma 1 2 0 02 Hegarty 0 01 21 Hannibal 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 23 54 13 18 65 SAINT MARY (20 5) Walker 0 3 0 0 0 Simpson 7 1 1 3 8 1 7 Hunter 2 4 1 2 6 McConnell 5 6 6 6 20 Samhan 6 10 5 8 17 Hughes 4 7 4 4 12 O'Leary 1 3 1 2 4 Smith 0 1 1 4 1 Totals 25 45 21 34 77 Portland 31 29 3 Point Portland 6 18 (Campbell 3 5 Ito 1 1 Niedermeyer 1 3 Raivio 1 6 Stohl 0 3) Saint Mary's 6 13 (McConnell 4 4 O'Leary 1 1 Hunter 1 2 Walker 0 3 Hughes 0 3) ouled Hunter Portland 35 (Smeul ders 9) Saint Mary's 27 (Simpson 9): Port land 10 (Raivio 4) Saint Mary's 17 (Hughes 8) Total Portland 23 Saint Mary's 19 3500 Guard Mickey McConnell knocked down his fourth 3 pointer during a pivotal 10 2 run to give Saint a 55 43 advantage with 5:25 to play McConnell who continues to see increased playing time in absence finished with a career high 20 points He also had zero turnovers in 29 min utes after committing six mis cues in 72 70 loss to No 19 Gonzaga a winner and winners bounce Ben nett said going through is tough asking Carlin (Hughes) and Mickey to fill a pretty big void Mick response was Samhan also began finding his scoring touch as the game wore on A 6 foot ll center Samhan scored six consecu tive points to help create some much needed distance He scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half Senior forward Diamon Simpson already the first player in Saint history to score 1000 points and grab 1000 rebounds finished with 17 points nine rebounds and three steals Contact Jennifer Starks at jstarksta bayareanewsgroup com Arizona pulls off big upset of No 11 UCLA Men ROM PAGE 1 just enjoy he said saw how fun it Lots of fun for the season high crowd of 10503 fans who were on hand to celebrate 100th season of basket ball and Darrall jer sey retirement but had to be wondering how long stick around after Stanford raced to a 47 25 lead Not so much fun for Stan ford which may have left the building unsure what hit them Gutierrez a native of Chi huahua Mexico and coach Mike first re cruit to Cal last spring had 10 points eight rebounds and 'five steals playing all 20 min utes of the second half He also took over ballhan dling duties for a stretch in the second half allowing Jerome Randle to move from point guard to the wing and avoid MESH A double teams Mostly he brought attitude came in and he just guards like eight Mont gomeiy said energy and anticipation he has great hands He was so valuable for us the one guy who could create an advantage for us rather than the other way Patrick Christopher scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half and Cal (19 6 8 4 Pac 1 0) put five play ers in double figures for the first time this season Randle added 18 points including seven straight to put the Bears in front during a 17 4 closing CAL GUARD Jorge Gutierrez Stanford guard Jeremy Green run The Bears battled back from 20 points down since a 1994 home victory over Arizona State and even that one 22 points Montgomery went small with three guards to start the second half and four Cal players Gutierrez Randle Christopher and Theo Rob ertson never left the floor after halftime think we had the luxury of worrying too much TONY AVELARASSOCIATED PRESS right steals the ball from in the second half about said Montgomery when quizzed about the fa tigue factor Gutierrez said he never thought the game was lost not even in the first half when Stanford shot 679 percent in cluding 9 for 12 from 3 point range game is not over un til the time is he said just got to keep play His defense he figured could help invigorate everyone Cal 82 Stanford 75 STANORD (15 8) ields 5 6 4 5 16 Hill 7 14 1 215 Owens 2 3 0 0 4 Johnson 2 4 1 2 5 Goods 4 10 3 4 13 Green 3 5 2 211 Brown 0 30 0 0 Dildy 0 00 0 0 Paul 4 7 (M) 11 Totals 27 52 11 15 75 CAL (19 6) Boylan 5 9 1 1 1 1 Robertson 4 11 0 0 9 Wilkes 1 10 02 Randle 6 115 618 Christopher 7 174 421 Seeley 0 10 0 0 Gutierrez 5 11 0 1 10 Amoke 0 0 0 0 0 Kamp 3 3 5 711 Totals 31 64 15 19 82 Stanford 50 36 3 Point Stan ford 10 19 (Paul 3 4 Green 3 5 ields 2 2 Goods 2 5 Brown 0 1 Hill 0 2) Cal 5 9 (Chnstopher 3 4 Randle 1 1 Robertson 1 3 Seeley 0 1) ouled None Stanford 25 (Hill 7) Cal 37 (Gutierrez Kamp 8) Stanford 18 (Johnson 8) Cal 16 (Randle 8) Total Stanford 18 Cal 17 10503 inthe building keep the whole team the whole crowd involved in the he said gets louder as we make some of those Stanford senior Lawrence Hill agreed that Gutierrez turned the game around may not get the credit the other players do" Hill said he comes in and turns up the intensity and they feed off of The final 4 plus minutes of the first half when the Bears chopped a 22 point deficit to 50 36 gave them a chance As defense tightened the Cardinal (15 8 4 8) cooled off Stanford went 9 minutes splining the first and second halves with just one field goal then made only one over the final 8 minutes of the game us to lose like said Stanford forward Landiy ields like they decided to say ours and decided to take it from Added Gutierrez was Contact Jeff araudo at jeffscribeaolcom ASSOCIATED PRESS Nic Wise scored 26 points and Jordan Hill had 22 points and 13 rebounds to lead host Arizona to an 84 72 victory over llth ranked UCLA on Saturday the sev enth win in a row Arizona (18 8 8 5 Pac 10) broke an eight game losing streak against bruins wno were swept in the desert for the first time since 2005 UCLA which lost at Arizona State on Thursday has dropped two in a row for the first time this season The Bruins (19 6 8 4) gave up a season worst 49 points in the first half falling behind by 18 at the break and trailing by as many as 25 in the second half Darren Collison scored 26 for UCLA including 6 of 10 on 3 pointers our of his 3s came in a late outburst that twice cut the lead to nine the last on Josh layup af ter an Arizona turnover with PAC 10 Conference Overall Washington 10 3 19 6 Arizona St yX 8 4 19 5 Cal 8 4 19 6 UCLA 8 4 19 6 Arizona 8 5 18 8 USC 6 5 15 8 Washington St 5 8 13 12 Oregon St 5 8 11 13 Stanford 4 8 15 8 Oregon 0 13 6 19 game USC at Arizona St 7 pm games Cal at Oregon 6 pm Stanford at Oregon St 7 pm Washington at UCLA 8 pm Washington St at USC 7:30 pm standings Dentmon contin ued his stellar play during the 1:08 to play Shipp who finished with 18 points missed a free throw that would have made it a three point play then missed an open 3 and the Bruins were finished Hill made two free throws with 43 seconds left and Wise one of two with 28 seconds to go to seal the sixth straight conference victory Arizona beaten UCLA since 2005 Washington 103 Oregon 84: Guards Justin Dentmon and Isaiah Thomas combined for 45 points Jon Brockman added 21 points and 18 re bounds and host Washington used a nearly flawless first half to stay on top of Pac 10 conference slate with 14 of his 2 1 points in the first half while Thomas scored 24 for Wash ington (19 6 10 3 Pac 10) Meanwhile the listless first half played by the Ducks (6 19 0 13) is likely to the heat on coach Ernie Kent Oregon State 54 Wash ington State 52: Calvin Haynes scored 17 points in cluding 12 in a decisive sec ond half stretch as visiting" Oregon State came back to beat Washington State Tarver added 13 points for Oregon State (11 13 5 8 Pac 10) which broke a three game losing streak Klay Thompson scored 20 points to lead Wash ington State (13 12 5 8) I.