Jason Kidd. Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Ed Gray. Kevin Johnson. Many others. All have been tremendous players for Cal, and all of them have one thing in common: they never won a Pac-10 regular season title. Now, Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher, Theo Robertson, Jamal Boykin, Omondi Amoke, Jorge Gutierrez, and many others combined for just that. They defeated the Arizona State Sun Devils 62-46 to clinch the title, led by the 4 graduating senior starters.
The first half was incredibly even, as neither team could create separation from the other. Jerren Shipp gave his team a huge boost in the first, nailing several jumpers and scoring 10 in the first. Still, the Bears were able to weather his unexpected contribution and hang in there. Jerome Randle made some huge shots in the end, scoring 5 in the last minute and 11 seconds to bring his team within 1 at the half. The halftime score would be 30-29 ASU.
The second half would start the right way, opening up on a 6-0 run to take the lead. Amoke scored 4 of those 6. The Devils would close it to 38-35 after the timeout. They would even come to 44-42. Then Gutierrez would come on and give his club a spark. First, he would cut across the lane and dunk. Then, he would receive a pass and would be hacked. The high arcing shot would be good, and a foul would be called. He would nail the free throw to make it 47-42. From that point, they went on a 5-0 run to extend the lead to 52-42. They would show no mercy from that point on, with Theo Robertson planting a dagger late to make it 62-42. They would close it out 62-46, with Nigel Carter and senior Nikolai Knezevic being on the court to celebrate.
Looking at the stats, you would think that Jerome Randle played a poor game. By most accounts, he did. He couldn’t get his jumper going, and was caught trying to do too many fancy moves. He did minimize his mistakes, only turning it over 2 turnovers, and did have 4 assists on the day. He may have played a poor game on his Senior Day, but he still got his team a W.
Jamal Boykin played one of the best games of his season, showing some great energy and doing a great defensive job. But first, his defense. Eric Boateng, coming off a perfect day against Stanford, was held to 4 points. 2 of those came on a hook shot early, and Boateng went 0-4 from the free throw line.
Jerren Shipp was the only Sun Devil to step up. He hit some shots that kept his team in the game early, and shot 66% from the field. He led his team in scoring off the bench.
Gutierrez’s contribution cannot be underestimated. Looking at his 6 points and 2 assists, you might think he played only a minor role. However, he completely kickstarted the late run, finding Boykin underneath and coming up with the And 1. He also did a great job defensively.
The defense for Cal was terrific. The Sun Devils, usually a solid offensive team, were held to the mere 46 points and shot 39% from the field. The 3 happy Arizona State team shot 13% from long range. Derek Glasser, the Sun Devil’s catalyst, only scored 2 points on 1-8 shooting. Boateng, as mentioned previously, did nothing. Ty Abbott, the leading ASU scorer, was held to 8 points on 4-13 shooting. The defense could not have been better.
Patrick Christopher and Theo Robertson both helped lead the team in this one. Christopher scored 14 on 6-13 shooting and did a solid job all around rebounding, with 5. He didn’t make many mistakes, only turning it over once. Robertson scored 13, on 5-9 shooting. His dagger 3 and great defense on Rihard Kuksiks and the ASU forwards was terrific, holding Kuksiks to 2 points.
I attended this game at the beautiful Haas Pavilion. The crowd was loud, the players were emotional, and we won. The rushing of the floor was awesome, and seeing the cutting of the net was great. Mike Montgomery thanking the fans at the end of the game was a nice touch. I will add pictures when I get them on my computer
Cal Bears, conference champions. We haven’t been able to say that in 50 years. Enjoy it folks.
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