Nov. 26, 2010
BOX SCORECOLLEGE PAGE
CAL PAGENCAA CBK SCOREBOARD
LAKEBUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) Carleton Scott had 16 points and 10 rebounds,and Notre Dame held California to five points at halftime to move intothe Old Spice Classic championship game with a 57-44 victory Fridaynight.
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The Irish (6-0) took a 21-5 lead in asloppy first half for both teams, went ahead by 18 points and held onto hand the Golden Bears (3-1) their first loss of the season. NotreDame will play Wisconsin in the final Sunday.
Allen Crabbe had 10 points and 10rebounds and Harper Kamp scored 10 for California, which couldn'trecover from its horrendous first half. The Golden Bears trimmed thedeficit to 10 late but never mounted a seriously comeback.
The first half was as sloppy as acollege game gets - even the Old Spice Classic logo at midcourt cameunglued. Small patches of the emblem had to be taped down for thesecond straight day with far more area to cover Friday. The logo didn'tappear to have any holes after it was repaired, and never seemed toeffect any plays.
The teams did that on their own.
Cal turned the ball over on almostevery way possible: players bounced balls off their legs, threw passesto the wrong team and sometimes not even to anybody. When the GoldenBears actually did shoot, their attempts weren't any prettier: Theywent 2 for 25 before the break, including 0 for 8 on 3-pointers.
Not that the Irish were much better.
They were 9-for-32 shooting,including 0 for 13 from beyond the arc, with five turnovers in theopening half. But they eventually found their rhythm, taking a 17-pointlead early in the second half to pull away.
Notre Dame will take a win any way it can get it.
There wasn't much expected this yearwith mainstays Luke Harangody and Tory Jackson gone. But now a teamthat was supposed to be in transition has a chance to do somethingspecial already this year.
Cal, meanwhile, got its first reality check.
Five seniors from last season'sPac-10 title team are gone, including conference player of the year andleading scorer Jerome Randle, second-leading scorer Patrick Christopherand top 3-point shooter Theo Robertson. All played key roles in theschool's first title in 50 years.
A young, inexperienced rosterfeaturing six freshmen for a team that earned back-to-back NCAAtournament berths in coach Mike Montgomery's first two seasons finallylooked like it.
The Golden Bears will play the loser of Temple-Georgia in the losers' bracket Sunday.