cal wins again

socalogo.gif (8739 bytes)
SoCalHoops College News

Fishies Do It Again: Will Face
Oklahoma Today--(Nov. 21, 1999)

The California Golden Bears basketball team, aka the "LA Rockfish", now aka "The Goldfish" did it again on Saturday, beating Houston 95-70 behind Sean Lampley's 26 points in a semifinal game at the Ford Credit "Top of the World Classic" in Fairbanks, Alaska. According to published news reports, Cal controlled the game from the opening tip, using its superior size inside, with Lampley and Nick Vander Laan dominating the boards. The Bears outrebounded Houston 50-31, with Lampley grabbing 12 boards himself.

The Bears went on a 14-2 run in the last four minutes of the first half to take a 45-19 lead, and Lampley ended the first half with a thundering dunk to give Cal a 29 point lead at the half, 54-23. Lampley then started off the second half in the same fashion, with another dunk, and then hit a short jumper a couple of minutes later and the Bears took an almost unbelievable 64-28 lead, with still more than 15 minutes left in the game. Joe Shipp and Nick Vander Laaan were also significant scorers with 14 and 12 respectively.

Houston managed to cut the lead a little bit late in the second half, but couldn't sustain any real momentum. George Williams led the Cougars (1-1) with 19 points, while point guard Gee Gervin scored 18. But it was the Bears' inside players who really shut down Houston forward Kenny Younger in the first half, forcing the Cougars to rely on outside shooting, which just didn't work. The Cougars shot only 25 percent in the first half, while Cal shot 54 percent.

Cal had some other SoCal guys step up as well, with Shantay Legans hitting for 7 points, Brian Wethers scoring 11 on 4-8 shooting and 3-3 from the line. Legans was also 2-2 from the line. Solomon Hughes scored 6 points on 3-5 shooting. And while he didn't score, Ryan Forehan-Kelly, another SoCal product from Santa Margarita HS, a walk-on, played well.

Cal is now 2-0 on the season and will play in the tournament final today against Oklahoma, which beat George Washington easily.

You can get a more complete report on the game at either the Cal Bears official site, or at Cyberbears.org.

Here's the box score from the game:

California 95, Houston 70

CALIFORNIA (2-0)

Smith 4-6 0-0 11, King 0-2 00 0, Legans 2-3 2-2 7, Hughes 3-5 0-2 6, Gates 2-3 0-0 6, Stephens 0-1 0-0 0, Lampley 10-16 6-9 26, Wethers 4-8 3-3 11, Vander Laan 6-8 0-0 12, Shipp 6-11 1-1 14, Gordon 1-6, 0-0 2, Forehan-Kelly 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 38-70 12-17 95.

HOUSTON (1-1)

Oliver 1-8 1-2 4, Botts 0-2 0-0 0, Davis 0-1 2-2 2, Gervin 7-14 2-2 18, Fernandez 1-2 0-1 2, Smith, B. 1-3 0-0 3, Murphy 1-2 0-0 3, Hendrick 1-5 4-5 6, Williams 8-14 2-3 19, Moceanu 0-1 0-0 0, Younger 3-12 7-12 13. Totals 23-64 18-27 70.

Halftime-California 53, Houston 24. 3-Point goals-California 7-17 (Smith 3-5, Legans 1-1, Gates 2-3, Stephens 0-1, Lampley 0-1, Shipp 1-5, Forehan-Kelly 0-1.) Houston 6-22 (Gervin 2-6, Smith, B. 1-2, Hendrick 0-3, Williams 1-1, Younger 0-2, Oliver 1-4, Botts 0-2, Murphy 1-2.) Fouled out-None. Rebounds-California 50 (Lampley 12), Houston 33 (Younger 8). Assists-California 17 (Lampley 26), Houston 7 (Younger 4). Total fouls-California 20, Houston 17.

Other scores from the tournament:

Ford Credit Top of the World Classic
------------------------------------
Semifinals:
Oklahoma 73, George Washington 54
California 96, Houston 70
Consolation Bracket:
Indiana St. 81, Montana St. 64
TCU 101, Alaska-Fairbanks 75