California's Jorge Gutierrez, left, runs down court as
Arizona's Solomon Hill attempts to intercept during the first
period of an NCAA college basketball game, Thursday,
Feb. 25, 2010, in Berkeley, Calif. (AP Photo/George Nikitin)
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California (19-9, 11-5 Pac-10) came on to the court wearing Nike's Jordan commemorative silver -- one of only three college teams asked to wear the uniform marking the 25th-year anniversary of the Jordan brand. In return, the Golden Bears pulled out some of their Jordan moves and played like one of Jordan's champion Bulls teams on the way to defeating Arizona (13-14, 7-8 Pac-10) 95-71.
The game began much like the last contest between both teams ended in Tucson, with back and forth scores and stingy defense. After four minutes of play, the game was tied 8-8, but the Golden Bears exploded on a 21-3 run and another 12-3 run to get up on the Wildcats 41-17 with 6:22 left in the first half.
Seniors Theo Robertson and Patrick Christopher were in double-figures before the half. Robertson scored 11 points (4-5 FG, 3-3 3PT) while Christopher had 12 (5-10, 2-3 3PT), as they paced the Bears in the first half.
Cal's big lead didn't last as long as they would have liked. Arizona closed out the half with a 14-2 run, as the teams went into the locker room with Cal up 43-31. To start the second half, the Wildcats would extend that run to 20-4 and get to within eight points (Cal 45 - Arizona 37) with 18:09 left in regulation.
That would be the last time that Arizona would come close to thinking they would win the game. Three minutes later and a 16-3 run, the Golden Bears were back on top by 21. The run started gaining steam with senior, Jerome Randle, hitting a 25-foot three. Arizona's star guard, Nic Wise returned the favor immediately and had a few words for Randle after hitting his three. Randle would hit two more three's on consecutive possessions and finish off the run with a two-point jumper. In all, of the 16-3 run, Randle scored 11 points for the Golden Bears.
Randle surpassed Jason Kidd (494 career assists) for third on Cal's career assists list, finishing the game with seven assists to give him 501 for his time in a Cal jersey. Randle also ended up leading all scorers with 24 points on 8-14 shooting from the field, 4-10 from the three, and a perfect 4-4 from the charity stripe. With 1,726 career points, Randle needs only 51 points to surpass Sean Lampley (1,776 points) as Cal's all-time scoring leader.
With the win, Cal places themselves in position to win their first conference title since the 1959-'60 season. Since USC (16-11, 8-7 Pac-10) lost to Oregon (13-14, 5-10 Pac-10) 54-44 and Arizona State (20-8, 10-5 Pac-10) beat Stanford (13-15, 7-9 Pac-10) 68-60, Saturday's game at Haas Pavilion between the Sun Devils and Golden Bears will be for the Pac-10 title. The winner of the game will be assured at least a share of the title.
Next Up:
California Golden Bears (18-9, 10-5 Pac-10)
vs
Arizona State Sun Devils (20-8, 10-5 Pac-10)
DATE: Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010
TIME: 12:00 PM PST
LOCATION: Haas Pavilion, Berkeley, CA.
TV: FSN/CSN Bay Area
Radio: KFRC (1550 AM)
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