Jerome Randle is in a world of his own in the Pacific-10 Conference.
The California star and Pac-10 Player of the Year played a nearly flawless first half as the Golden Bears torched the Oregon Ducks 90-74 Thursday afternoon at the Pacific Life Pac-10 Tournament. With the win, Cal (22-9) advances to the next round, where they’ll match up with the No. 5 seed UCLA Bruins tonight at 6 p.m.
Oregon, however, saw its season, along with the Ernie Kent era, most likely come to an end on a losing note. The Ducks finished the season at 16-16 overall with a 7-11 mark in conference play and may have a slim chance of making the College Basketball National Invitational Tournament later this month.
“We shot the ball well today,” Cal head coach Mike Montgomery said. “When our guys shoot the ball, we’re hard to beat. Oregon’s a team that’s capable of scoring a lot of points so we knew we had to score.”
Shooting the ball “well” was a bit of an understatement.
Cal shot 54.1 percent (33-of-61) from the field, including a mind-numbing 55.5 percent (11-of-20) from behind the three-point line. In contrast, Oregon hit just 35.8 percent of its shots from the field, with a 47.4 percent effort from deep.
Randle came out firing in the first half, tallying all of his team-high 22 points in the opening 20 minutes. He did not miss a shot from the floor in the half, going 8-of-8 from the field and 4-of-4 from beyond the arc.
“If my offensive game is not going, I know Theo (Robertson) and Patrick (Christopher) will pick me up,” Randle said of Cal’s balanced offensive attack. “So I really wasn’t worried about it at all. I’m glad I came out and threw the first punch with them in the first half, you know. The second half they picked me up.”
Christopher had another outstanding all-around outing for Cal, scoring 21 points on 5-of-9 from three-point range. He also swiped five rebounds and dished out five assists. Omondi Amoke and Jamal Boykin rounded out the Golden Bears’ double-digit scorers, with 12 and 15 points, respectively. All of Boykin’s 15 points came in the second half.
The quick first punch Randle spoke of led to him scoring seven points in the opening 1:42 of the game. He and Christopher combined to score all but two of Cal’s first 21 points, including four consecutive three point makes between the two.
“The thing I feel good about is that we got a lot of people to play and got some rest,” Montgomery continued. “Having to play 40 minutes three straight or two straight days is tough.”
Randle left the game 10 minutes into the second half with a “stiff” ankle, but he said afterward that it was more of a precaution than anything else after tweaking it late in the first half.
“Things like that happen,” Randle said. “You get your bumps and bruises, but you know I’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”
Oregon senior Tajuan Porter concluded his four-year career as the Pac-10’s all-time leader in three-point makes with 345, breaking former Arizona star Salim Stoudamire’s record.
The Ducks won the rebounding battle 33-30, including a 17-10 edge on the offensive glass. Both teams committed 10 turnovers.
Porter paced the Ducks with 26 points on 4-of-9 shooting from deep, while junior LeKendric Longmire chipped in 16 points and six rebounds, and sophomore Malcolm Armstead scored 10.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Tajuan Porter — 26 points, new career leader in Pac-10 three-points makes (345)
Jerome Randle — 22 points, 4-of-5 from three-point range
Patrick Christopher — 21 points, five rebounds, five assists
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