Sports Radio Service


		Cal blasts Dartmouth, faces Portland in championship By Morris Phillips December 27, 2008

	In language that Coach Mike Montgomery would deem sporting and gracious, the Dartmouth Big Green just weren’t quite big enough, and that was before Bears’ reserves Nikola Knezevic and Eddie Miller got involved. From the outset, the Big Green had their hands full with Jordan Wilkes. Cal’s lanky starting center had his best game yet with a perfect first half—3 for 3 from the field, 2 for 2 from the line—and finished with 11 points in Cal’s 98-62 wipeout of Dartmouth. The Bears improved to 10-2 on the season and they moved into the championship game of the Colliers International Golden Bear Classic against the Portland Pilots. And Montgomery got his wish, an easy win, playing time for his bench, and rest for his starters. “They shot the ball very well early,” said Montgomery. “ I think that was partially due to us not being as attentive as we needed to be. But we got going a little bit and we were able to get everybody time, which I thought was important from a team perspective, plus we are going to have a tough game tomorrow night." The Bears, in the midst of a six-game home stand that ends next week with the conference openers against the Arizona schools, were business as usual. The Bears continued to honor Montgomery’s detailed approach. This week’s point of emphasis was rebounding and scoring in the post. And the Bears hit Dartmouth with a heavy dose of both. Cal out rebounded Dartmouth 46-29 and all the Bears attacked the rim against less athletic Big Green. Cal leads the country in 3-point shooting percentage, but took only eight attempts from behind the arc, as they shot just fine from two, finishing at 59 percent for the game. Jerome Randle again led the Bears, this time with 15 points. Theo Robertson (13 points), Wilkes and Patrick Christopher joined Randle as the Bears’ double-figure scorers. Portland snuck by the Air Force in the nightcap, 43-42, on center Roben Smeulders three-point play with 33 seconds remaining. The game was played a deliberate pace and was marred by awful shooting by both teams. The Pilots pulled it out despite shooting 28 percent and missing 20 three-point attempts. The championship game will feature a reunion between Montgomery and one of his most physical players at Stanford, Eric Reveno, who is in his third year as coach of the Pilots.