March 12, 2009

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California faced USC for the fourth time in the Pac-10 Tournament, falling to 2-2 vs. the Trojans in the tourney. Prior to tonight's 79-75 decision, the other results were: Cal 75, USC 59 (1988 1st round); USC 79, Cal 62 (2003 semifinals); and Cal 82, USC 67 (2006 quarterfinals).

Cal is now 5-7 in Pac-10 quarterfinal contests.

Jorge Gutierrez scored a career-high 14 points, besting the 10 he scored at UNLV and vs. Stanford.

USC outrebounded Cal, 53-27. The only other time this season an opponent had more than 10 rebounds than the Bears was at UCLA Jan. 29 when the Bruins held a 34-23 advantage (+11).

Cal had only two turnovers in the first half, while picking off five steals, more than their full-game season average entering the contest (4.8 per game). The Bears finished with just five turnovers and scored 18 points off USC's 11 turnovers.

With 18 points, Jerome Randle moved into 23rd place on Cal's career scoring list, now with 1,170 points.

Randle also had three more three-pointers to increase his Cal season-record total to 80. His career total of 158 threes puts him in fourth place on the school's all-time list, just ahead of Joe Shipp, who had 157 from 2000-03.

After trailing by as many as 18 points in the first half (42-24), Cal used a 17-4 run in the second half to get back within one point at 58-57 with just under 11 minutes left. The Bears also closed the gap to one at 70-69 late in the contest before Jerome Randle tied it at 75-all on a runner in the lane with 19.6 seconds left.

Patrick Christopher scored just three points in the first half, then had 10 points in the first 10 minutes after the break, including a pair of three-pointers. He finished with 15 points.

After shooting just 10-for-33 from the floor in the first half (30.3%), Cal made 18-of-32 shots in the second half (56.3%).