Cal Bears continue to impress - this time on the road

January 8, 10:44 PMCal Bears ExaminerRob Calonge

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We knew it wasn't going to be an easy win.  The Bears were facing a tough opponent on their home floor and the likelihood of having to change their style to win was high.  One thing about this California Golden Bears (14-2, 3-0 Pac-10) team: It doesn't matter what style it is, they can just flat out play.  That's what they did against the Washington State Cougars (8-6, 0-2 Pac-10) tonight, defeating them 57-50.

Patrick Christopher led all scorers with 22 points on 9-14 shooting from the field and 4-6 from three-point range.  Cal, which led or tied Washington State for all except 3:21 of the game, relied heavily on the junior off-guard for production throughout the game.  The Cougars took their biggest of both of their leads in the game with a 9-6 edge with 12:51 left in the first half.  Christopher, after missing a two-point attempt on the previous possession, took an assist from Jamal Boykin and sunk a three to bring the Bears back into a tie at nine's.

The Bears would only trail twice more in the game, both times by a point in the first half.  After the Bears had pulled even at 22 with 2:53 left in the half, they would never trail again.

It was a tough night for Cal's leading scorer, Jerome Randle.  Randle came into the game averaging more than 19 points-per contest, but he was held to only eight points on 3-9 shooting from the field, 0-5 from the three, and 2-2 from the charity stripe.  That didn't stop him from contributing in other ways.  Randle had five rebounds and five assists on the night.

Boykin had his first double-double, scoring 12 points, pulling down 14 rebounds, dished three assists and had one block.  His 12 rebounds led all players on the night.  Theo Robertson made the most of his limited opportunities, enabling him to score 11 points on 4-6 shooting, 1-2 from three-point range, had three rebounds and three assists.

Only two players scored in double-digits for the Cougars and their top scorer wasn't one of them.  Aron Baynes led Washington State with seven rebounds, but was only able to put up eight points on 2-9 shooting from the field.  Taylor Rochestie led the Cougars in points with 19 (8-15, 2-5 3PT) and Klay Thompson had 14 points (6-14, 2-3 3PT) and four rebounds.  No other Cougar player scored more than five on the evening and only five players scored at all for Washington State.  The Cougars were only able to shoot 37% on the evening.

The game remained close with Cal twice taking a nine-point lead (51-42) with 5:10 left on the clock, but the game wasn't put away until the final minutes when Christopher scored on an alley-oop to make the score 53-47 with 1:37 remaining, then after Washington State was stopped on the next possession, Jorge Gutierrez took a long assist from Randle and layed it up, to put Cal ahead 55-47 with only 1:21 left to go.

The Bears are now a perfect 3-0 in the Pac-10 and are showing no signs of letting up.  They still have another tough opponent on the road this weekend in the Washington Huskies, but we'll have more on that later Friday.  For now, Bear Backers, rejoice!

CLICK HERE FOR THE WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS EXAMINER'S GAME RECAP

Technicals: None
Officials: Don Mcallister ,Ruben Ramos ,Michael Reed
Attendance: 7,221