Feb. 10, 2000
Box Score
BERKELEY - Freshman guard Donte Smith scored a career-high 19 points and Cal held off a furious Oregon State rally in the closing minutes as the Bears prevailed, 70-68, Thursday night in Haas Pavilion.
Cal, which won its third consecutive game, improved to 14-8 overall and 5-5 in the Pac-10. Oregon State fell to 10-11 and 2-8.
The Bears appeared to be well on their way to an easy victory, going up 30-16 at the break. Despite shooting just 34.4 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, Cal limited OSU to 22.2 percent (6-22), including 0-for-8 on three-pointers.
In the second half, the Beavers cut their deficit to eight at 36-28 six minutes into the period. However, Cal quickly had it back in double digits and the Bears took their largest lead at 48-30 on a Smith three-pointer with 10:40 to go.
Cal even led by a 63-49 score with 2:10 left. But that's when OSU got hot from the floor and the Bears went cold from the free throw line. During the final two minutes, Oregon State sank four threes, and Cal shot just 7-for-14 from the stripe.
OSU's final trey, a long-range basket by Jimmie Haywood, cut it to 69-68 with six seconds remaining. Sean Lampley was immediately fouled on the in-bounds pass, and he made 1-of-2 free throws, giving the Beavers one last chance. However, Brian Wethers tipped away a pass and the clock expired with Cal winning, 70-68.
Cal center Nick Vander Laan finished with his fifth double-double of the year with 11 points and 11 boards. It marked the sixth straight game he has led the Bears on the glass. In addition, Lampley added 11 points and Shantay Legans 10.
Deaundra Tanner paced OSU with 19 points.
Cal-Oregon State Postgame Quotes
California Head Coach Ben Braun
General Comments:
"I went up to Eddie (Payne) after the game and told him he should be really proud of his players. His kids really battled. They hit some really tough shots. And we made it a little easier on them by missing some free throws. We could have closed it out by hitting some of those free throws, but it just didn't happen that way."
"It's a good learning experience for this team. I don't particularly like the way we won it, but I'll take the win."
On Oregon State's comeback attempt:
"You need to have a number of things happen to stage a comeback like that. Oregon State took advantage of some missed free throws and they kept coming down the court and hit three after three after three. And those weren't easy shots. They hit some very difficult shots."
On the play of guard Donte Smith:
"He did a great job for us tonight. He played with a lot of confidence. Without him we wouldn't have had a win tonight. Both he and Solomon (Hughes) really stepped up tonight."
Oregon State Head Coach Eddie Payne
General Comments:
"It's a real disappointment, what with the way the guys fought back and did things down the stretch and overcame a really poor shooting first half."
On the final play of the game:
"It's disappointing that we didn't get a chance to get the ball up in the rim. That was a bang-bang play there. Adam (Masten) said he got raked over pretty good and it's too bad because Josh (Steinthal) was all by his lonesome and there was nobody near him."
