Cal Bears Show Grit and Determination, Beat Arizona State By 10

The California Golden Bears were picked to finish eighth this season in the Pac-10. After the Bears scrappy win over the Arizona State Sun Devils a pick to finish in the top three in the standings and were currently ranked 17th in the nation it is looking that Cal will be among the top teams in the Pac-10. 

I wrote a previous article on Jerome Randle being the best point guard in the conference and it definitely showed tonight and could be considered for Pac-10 Player Of The Year. His performance tonight didn't disappoint any Bear fans at all. 

The game was pretty tight throughout. It seemed every time Cal made a run Arizona State had an answer. Cal had gotten their biggest lead of the game in the first half at 12. The Bears were leading 29-17. 

Yet, Cal enabled Arizona State to come back with some careless defense and leaving Arizona State's three point shooters wide open. In fact the Sun Devils went on a 20-8 run to close the half including a three pointer just beating the shot clock to get the half time score to 37-37. 

In the second half it was much like the first half, but Arizona looked like they were going to gain some momentum after securing a three point lead. The lead evaporated rather quickly and the Sun Devils would never regain any kind of lead. 

More importantly though in the second half James Harden was getting two of the Bears better offensive players in foul trouble, Patrick Christopher picked up his third of the game and Theo Robertson picked up foul number four. Both had to sit with plenty of time remaining for the Sun Devils to make a run. 

Instead Cal turned up the defensive pressure. Harper Kamp came up with two huge blocked shots and he also helped guard Harden out on the perimeter. Jamal Wilkes also was able to make Jeff Pendergraph work down low which even though Wilkes didn't get a blocked shot altered the shot enough that it wouldn't go down. 

Jorge Gutierrez did the hard work making Harden work for every shot and it forced him into rather tough shots. Even with that Harden did make some clutch plays including getting the Sun Devils within two points with a little over two minutes remaining in the game.

That's when Jerome Randle stepped in. Randle received a pass took a long three pointer which he made and was also fouled on the shot. Randle completed the four point play pushing the Bears lead up to six.

The Sun Devils were never able to recover from that. Harden attempted a desperation three, but Gutierrez never bit kept his hands up on defense the whole time and the refs did not buy Harden's acting job that he was fouled on the play. 

The Bears then made their free throws and the Bears ended up winning 81-71 over the 17th ranked Sun Devils. 

Randle was the start and tied his career high with 26 points, but more importantly he dished out 10 assists, and five rebounds. Patrick Christopher chipped in with 20 points. 

For the Sun Devils Harden had 26 points, two assists, and seven rebounds. Jeff Pendergraph chipped in 16 points and seven rebounds, and Rihards Kuksis added 16 as well. 

The win puts Cal at 13-2 on the season and they are currently 2-0 in Pac-10 play. The Sun Devils drop to 12-2 and 1-1 in conference play.