Big finish carries the Bears past USC By Morris Phillips January 9, 2010     Down seven points in a game clearly morphing into USC’s tempo, Coach Mike Montgomery was watching a second straight home game slipping away. The former Stanford coach knows better than anyone on Cal’s campus that Pac-10 champions don’t lose consecutive home games. So needing a spark, Montgomery turned to… Nikola Knezevic, who in the absence of injured Jorge Guitierrez was thrust into the role of defensive stopper. Nikola Knezevic? Yeah, Nikola Knezevic. “The key to the thing I thought was Nikola Knezevic really went into the game and Lewis was a guy that was really hurting us and Nik pretty much took him out. I don’t know that he scored again, and it took one really big aspect away from what they were doing because he was shooting over the top of us kind of consistently,” Montgomery said. “He came in and did a great job on (Dwight) Lewis,” Jerome Randle, who led the Bears with 21 points, said. “Coach gave him an assignment, and he responded to it well.” “He does it in practice. Nikola’s really tough to get around so we expect him to come in and do a great job. Practice? Yeah, practice. Knezevic, who was recruited by previous coach Ben Braun, and started 16 games as a sophomore, wasn’t expected to return to the Bears this season for his fifth year, because conventional thought was that Montgomery would want his scholarship for one of his recruits. But Knezevic did return, and he has shown his value with increased playing time in Guitierrez’ absence. On Saturday, Knezevic’s appearance coincided with a 16-1 run that wiped out USC’s biggest lead and swung the game to the Bears, who then lead 59-51 with just over three minutes remaining. In the run, Cal went small, and simply refused to settle for jump shots, attacking the rim and making shots or gaining ground at the free throw line. On the night, the Bears attempted just seven 3-pointers, making two, as Montgomery was insistent that his guys challenge the thin Trojans, who basically with seven guys, and wilted considerably down the stretch. Point guard Mike Gerrity, in particular looked out of gas, trying to deal with Randle on the defensive end, and navigate the Bears’ increased pressure on offense. In a statistical rarity, the Trojans were shut out in transition, being outscored by Cal 12-0 on fast break opportunities. “When you’re on the road there’s not a lot of room for error, and down the stretch we made some mistakes mentally and really just lost control of it.” USC came in as hot as anyone in the Pac-10 with eight consecutive wins followed by an agonizing one-point loss at Stanford on Wednesday. The Trojans’ surge coincided with the appearance of two-time transfer, Gerrity, the player everyone around the Pac-10’s been talking about. Gerrity immediately solidified USC’s thin ranks along with his freight train ball handling and clutch shooting that keyed eye-opening wins over Tennessee, St. Mary’s and UNLV. But prior to the Stanford-USC game, the Trojans announced that self-imposed penalties would remove them from the post-season hunt and an appearance in the Pac-10 tournament. Since then, the eight-game win streak has transformed into a lost weekend in the Bay Area. Theo Robertson added 20 for the Bears, playing all 40 minutes, and Jamal Boykin added eight points and five rebounds.

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