(Alex Gonzalez reporting for Mid Valley Sports)Golden Bears Stay Golden
By Alex Gonzalez
Los Angeles– Pac-12 Player Of The Year, Jorge Gutierrez scored 22 points and handed out seven assists to led the California over rival Stanford, 77-71, thursday night in the second round of the Pacific life Pac-12 Tournament at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Gutierrez scored only three points in the first half, Stanford’s defense contained the guard to shoot 1-5 from the field and missing two free throws. Not only was the Cardinal’s defense causing problems for Gutierrez, but for the whole team. The Golden Bears struggled from the field all around, shooting 10-27 (37.0%) from the field in the first half, and turned the ball over 14 times.
At half time, Stanford was atop the Bears 30-23. Senior Andrew Zimmermann was the top scorer for the Cardinal, the forward dropped in nine points in eight minutes of play.
After intermission, Cal was able to turn it around. Led by Gutierrez, the senior guard scored 19 of his 22 points in the second stanza. As a team, the Bears upped their scoring total by 54 points alone.
With all the scoring, Stanford was right behind Cal.
“We started to trust one another. We started to make each other better players,” said Cal head coach Mike Montgomery. “I just thought we shared the ball better. We only had three turnover. We had 17 assists on 26 field goals, so the ball was being shared.”
The Golden Bears were able to find empty holes in Stanford’s zone defense.
“We were getting shots. I think that, as much as anything, was just the fact there was ball movement,” said Montgomery.
With eight minutes left in the game, the Cardinal were able to tie the score at 56. Freshman guard, Chasson Randle knotted the game with a pair of free throws. Randle finished the game with 19 points and five rebounds. But it wasn’t enough to pull Stanford ahead of Cal.
From that point both teams shared scoring blows. Neither team could find score enough to create breathing room. Its wasn’t until Gutierrez who was able to put Cal up after he had scored back-to-back lay ups putting the Bears up four, 66-62, with four minutes left to play. The Bears were able to build that lead, and keep it, ruining the Cardinal’s chances to advancing to the semis.
Zimmermann tried to keep Stanford in the game but they could not keep up with Gutierrez and the Bears. Zimmermann was the leading scorer for the Cardinal, the 6’8” forward scored a career high 22 points, and pulled down seven rebounds.
“As a senior you don’t have time left. Unfortunately I’m upset at myself for not starting earlier,” said Zimmermann. “But my teammates found me in positions to score. They had faith in me. I beleived in myself, and you’ve got to leave it all on the line when you’re playing for every game that you can.”
California will play Colorado in the second game of the men’s semi finals at 8:30.
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Colorado Stampedes to the Semis
By Alex Gonzalez
Los Angeles– Colorado’s Andre Roberson scored the winning basket with 10 seconds left in regulation to put the Buffalo’s up one 63-62, in the quarterfinal against Oregon, Wednesday night at the Staples Center.
From start to finish, Colorado and Oregon fought to the bitter end to claim a spot in the semi-finals.
After a missed layup by Colorado’s Spencer Dinwiddie, Roberson was in the right place at the right time.
Roberson bobbled the rebound and found a way to lay it up over Oregon’s Tony Woods.
“We were just trying to attack, we didn’t want to take jump shot late in the game,” said Roberson. ” Coach Boyle always tells us to attack the rim. I just felt like when I saw Spencer go, I just crash the board like I normally do. It fell into my hands and got it up.”
Roberson finished the game with a double double, 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Roberson was not the leading scorer in the game, Carlon Brown led the team in scoring. The 6’5″ senior guard scored a game high 18 points, aiding Roberson in the scoring department.
Throughout the game, both teams would trade buckets, neither team could build a sustainable lead.
Oregon did have an opportunity to win the game, but Devoe Joseph missed a three pointer at time expired. Joseph finished the game with 12 points and eight rebounds.
Colorado will face number two seed California in the second game of the Pac-12 semi finals Friday at the Staples Center.
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