Stunned in Berkeley! Cal Bears upset by Beavers

January 23, 12:04 AMCal Bears ExaminerRob Calonge

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Oregon State's Calvin Haynes scores past
California's Jamal Boykin during the first
half of an NCAA college basketball game
in Berkeley, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 22,
2009. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

If you were told that the Golden Bears (15-4, 4-2 Pac-10) would have an 11 point lead and all of the momentum against the Oregon State Beavers (7-10, 2-5 Pac-10) with only 9:27 left to play, you'd probably have no trouble thinking that the Bears were only 9:27 away from notching another win.

As Lee Corso likes to say on ESPN's College Gameday, "Not so fast my friend!"

The Bears, who had shot nearly 50% from the floor and over 50% from beyond the arc, went completely cold after getting up 62-51.  At the time, they had just completed an 11-4 run on the strength of two three's by Patrick Christopher and Jerome Randle dominating from the point.

They would only score one more bucket the rest of the way - a Randle three that gave Cal their final lead at 65-63.  The Beavers would go on to score six more points and win the game 69-65.

In that span, the Bears shot 1-12 to suffer their second straight defeat.  This defeat will sting for a while after losing a game that most publications, including this one, said they should win easily.  That's why the Las Vegas strip is such a pretty place, because games aren't played on paper (or the web).

Mike Montgomery, understandably, wasn't happy after the game.  He may not have the right stats for the last nine minutes, but he does know why they lost.  When asked what it was that caused the loss, he bluntly stated:

If you want to simplify it, we went 2-for-11 the last seven minutes of the game and we weren't able to get stops.  Put very simply, it was no more complex than that. The last 10 minutes of the game they did everything they needed to do and we didn't.

Beavers head coach, Craig Robinson, just got back from Washington DC on Wednesday after watching his brother-in-law sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.  Robinson is the brother of Michelle Obama.  After the game, he was elated, saying:

I guess I can say this now, Tuesday was really something special.  But for those guys in the locker room, to come and play the way they did on the week of distractions they had, that shows a heck of amount of maturity and it shows a heck of amount of confidence. I can't be more proud of those guys.

Robinson may want to take another trip to DC before their next game.

NOTES:

• Randle came out with 2:49 left in the game due to an injury that was diagnosed as a hip-pointer.  He returned to the game, but Montgomery said he'd probably be pretty sore tomorrow.  They plan on reevaluated later.
• Jamal Boykin got his third double-double of the season scoring 15 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.
• The last time that Oregon State beat Cal was during the 2005-'06 season.
• Randle moved into ninth all-time on the school's career list for three-point field goals made with 123.
• Randle recorded his 10th 20-point+ performance of the season.

Check back tomorrow for more thoughts on this loss and a game preview of the Oregon game on Saturday.

Technicals: None
Officials: David Hall ,Bob Cartmell ,Glen Mayberry
Attendance: 8,236