Bears top Ducks in 2OT
LOS ANGELES – Leon Powe scored a career-high 41 points and California held off Oregon 91-87 in double overtime Friday night to reach the Pac-10 tournament title game for the first time.
The Golden Bears (20-9) will play No. 13 UCLA (26-6) in the final today, with an automatic NCAA tournament berth going to the winner.
Ayinde Ubaka added 12 of his 17 points in both overtimes and Theo Robertson finished with 18 points for third-seeded Cal, which overcame a 16-point, first-half deficit and then rallied from seven points down in the final 2:45 of regulation.
Powe set a tournament record with his 41 points, topping the mark of 39 by Arizona State’s Ike Diogu against Stanford last year.
The seventh-seeded Ducks (15-18) were led by Brandon Lincoln with 22 points, Malik Hairston with 20 and Maarty Leunen with 17.
Cal scored the first seven points, including four by Powe, of the second overtime to take an 80-73 lead. Lincoln rallied the Ducks, scoring seven of their first nine points to make it 85-82 with 35 seconds left.
After Chamberlain Oguchi’s jumper was short, Leunen grabbed the rebound and fed Lincoln, who hit a 3-pointer to get the Ducks to 88-87 with 9.8 seconds left.
Lincoln fouled out seconds later, putting Ubaka on the line. He made the first and missed the second for an 89-87 lead, giving Cal possession. But Oguchi missed another jumper and Ubaka wound up back on the line, making both to close out the late night thriller.
(13) UCLA 71, Arizona 59
UCLA is doing it with defense.
Freshman Darren Collison scored a career-high 15 points, Arron Afflalo and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute added 12 each, and the Bruins took command early in the second half to beat the Wildcats (19-12) in the other semifinal game.
The top-seeded Bruins bring a six-game winning streak into today’s game, mainly because of their defense. They’ve limited the opposition to an average of just more than 55 points per game since being beaten 71-68 by Southern California on Feb. 19.
Arizona entered averaging 73.4 points per game. The Wildcats’ previous single-game low this season was 60 in a five-point win over California on Jan. 21.
Despite losing, the Wildcats seem assured of an invitation to their 22nd straight NCAA tournament. They need one victory to reach the 20-win milestone for the 19th consecutive season.
Freshman Marcus Williams led Arizona with a career-high 25 points and seven rebounds. Ivan Radenovic added 17 points and 10 rebounds. No other Wildcat scored more than five points.
Collison shot 6 of 10 including 2 of 3 from 3-point range. His previous career best was 12.
Mbah a Moute and Ryan Hollins had seven rebounds each for UCLA.