Cal edges Huskies

LOS ANGELES – California had Ryan Anderson and Washington didn’t have Jon Brockman.

The two all-conference performers played pivotal roles Wednesday night as the Bears topped UW 84-81 in the first round of the Pacific Life Pacific-10 Conference tournament at the Staples Center, though Anderson made his mark felt on the court.

Brockman, the Pac-10’s leading rebounder, didn’t play because of an ankle sprain suffered Saturday in a loss at Washington State. With him watching from the bench, the Huskies were beaten on the boards 43-34.

“If we could point to one statistic that was a deciding factor, they had (19) offensive rebounds,” UW coach Lorenzo Romar said, “and 20 second-chance points. … That’s too many.”

Anderson, the Pac-10’s leading scorer, played a part in that, grabbing 16 rebounds, scoring 22 points and making the game’s key basket.

That came with 41 seconds left, Cal leading 79-78 and 2 seconds showing on the shot clock.

The ninth-seeded Bears (16-14) called timeout, and set up a play that sent Anderson off a screen by 6-foot-11, 250-pound DeVon Hardin. The sophomore caught the pass in stride, turned and nailed a 3-pointer as the shot clock blared.

From there Cal made enough free throws – the Bears were 24 of 34 from the line overall – to hold off Washington (16-16) and move into today’s matchup with No. 1 seed UCLA, a rematch of Saturday’s 81-80 Bruins win on Josh Shipp’s last-second, over-the-backboard shot.

Anderson wasn’t the only Bear to shine on the offensive end as Patrick Christopher hit half his 20 shots en route to a game-high 25 points.

Quincy Pondexter started in Brockman’s place and did his best to fill the void, scoring a team-high 23 points and grabbing nine rebounds.

But the Huskies knew they were playing without their heart.

“With Jon in the game we always can get easy baskets,” said senior guard Ryan Appleby, who hit four 3-pointers for 12 points. All of those came in the second half, including three just after halftime, helping the Huskies build a 12-point edge.

“He’s such a force in the paint that any time we need a bucket … we can just throw it in to him,” Appleby added. “So it’s tough not playing with him.”

Just like it would be for Cal not to have Anderson, a first-team All-Pac-10 selection.

“The thing I’m more impressed with him,” Romar said, “is that even when he’s not knocking his shots down, he hustles relentlessly around the rim and he’s constantly getting his hands on balls.”

The Huskies, who were 7-11 and eighth in Pac-10 play, will have to wait to see if they get invited to a postseason tournament, either the NIT or the new CBI.

Arizona 87, Oregon St. 56: Jordan Hill led five players in double figures with 16 points and the seventh-seeded Wildcats swamped the 10th-seeded Beavers in the night’s late game.

The Wildcats needed at least one more win to extend their 23-year streak of NCAA tournament appearances, the longest in the nation, and they got it easily against the Beavers (6-25).

The Wildcats (19-13) advanced to play No. 11 Stanford (24-6) in tonight’s quarterfinals. They were swept by the Cardinal in the regular season.