Feb 8, 2008

Rare Pac-10 home win for Golden Bears

By Jeff Faraudo / MediaNews

BERKELEY - There's a reason Nikola Knezevic was wide open in the right corner with 2:17 left in the second half against Oregon State.

The Cal sophomore guard hadn't hit a 3-pointer since the last time the Golden Bears played the Beavers back on Jan. 12, and hadn't even scored in his four previous games.

But he made a big shot Thursday night, swishing a 3-pointer to extend a two-point Cal lead that became an 81-76 victory in front of 7,077 nervous fans at Haas Pavilion.

On the heels of two wins in the state of Washington last weekend, the Bears nearly pulled a Mitt Romney against the worst team in the Pac-10. They nearly dropped out of the race.

Instead, behind 22 points and 12 rebounds from Ryan Anderson, Cal (14-7, 5-5) survived to pull into a tie for fifth place. It was just the second home Pac-10 victory in six tries for the Bears.

Oregon State (6-16, 0-10) lost for the 12th straight game, and the fourth time since James Logan High and USF graduate Kevin Mouton took over as interim head coach.

After Knezevic's big shot, the Bears pushed the lead out to 10 points before consecutive 3-pointers by Josh Tarver and Omari Johnson made it 78-74 with 31 seconds left.

A pair of free throws by Anderson with 30 seconds left iced the outcome.

Cal functioned well enough offensively, but struggled to contain the league's most amenic club.

The Beavers, who averaged just 56.7 points in their first nine Pac-10 games, had that many with nearly 10 minutes left. OSU had made just 26 percent of their 3-pointers in conference action, but converted 11-for-31.

And senior Marcel Jones, whose struggles this season personified the Beavers' woes, found a rhythm. He entered the contest shooting a ghastly 1-for-23 from 3-point range in conference play, but made a pair from beyond the arc on his way to 15 points, his biggest-scoring game in nearly two months.

While the Bears exploited OSU's soft middle, scoring 44 points in the paint, the Beavers' quickness caused the Bears just as much trouble at the other end. The visitors did a good job just hanging around through much of the second half.

Anderson became the first Cal sophomore to reach 1,000 career points when he made the second of two free throws for a 59-53 lead with 10:53 left. But OSU's Jones answered with a 3-pointer over Anderson, slicing the margin in half.

A 3-pointer by Lathen Wallace moments later got the Beavers within a point and a layup and free throw by Jones made gave them a 62-60 lead with 9:21 left.

Cal didn't take the lead for good until guard Jerome Randle buried a 3-pointer for a 68-66 margin with 6:30 left.

Jamal Boykin had 13 points and eight rebounds for the Bears and Patrick Christopher scored 15. Center DeVon Hardin, who missed last week's games with an upper-repiratory virus, had nine points and three rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench.

The Bears used an 18-2 run over a span of 5:07 late in the first half to erase a nine-point OSU lead and take a 40-36 edge into halftime.

OSU converted 50 percent from the field over the first 13 minutes of the half, and led 29-20 after a 3-point by freshman Omari Johnson with 7:01 left.

Cal dominated the rest of the half, as the Beavers suddenly lost their aim. While OSU shot 1-for-8 and turned the ball over three times on their next 11 possessions, the Bears warmed up.

Anderson scored seven of the 18 points during the run, but it was a steal by Boykin that set up a dunk by freshman Harper Kamp and gave the Bears a 32-31 lead, their first since 5-4.