Heartbreaker — Cal suffers triple-OT loss to ‘Cats

Feb. 5, 2011
BOX SCORECAL PAGE

BERKELEY, Calif.(AP)Lamont Jones hit a go-ahead lay-in with 1:03 left in the third overtime and also had a tying 3-pointer with 5 seconds to go in the second OT and the tying three-point play late in regulation, sending No. 21 Arizona to a thrilling 107-105 victory against California on Saturday night.Jones finished with a career-high 27 points in the Wildcats' fifth straight win and eighth in nine games, and Kevin Parrom scored five of his career-best 25 points in the third extra period for Arizona (20-4, 9-2 Pac-10).Harper Kamp scored a career-high 33 points for the defending Pac-10 champion Golden Bears (13-10, 6-5), seven in the second extra period. Cal had its four-game winning streak snapped.First-place Arizona moved 1 12 games ahead of UCLA in the Pac-10 standings and two up on Washington after the 20th-ranked Huskies were handed their third straight loss in a defeat at Oregon earlier Saturday.This marked Cal's longest home game since a five-overtime, 107-102 victory over Oregon in 1977. The Bears won a triple-overtime game at Washington in January 2009.Jones shot 9 for 18 and converted 7 of 9 free throws. He scored on a short baseline jumper with 16.6 seconds left in regulation and was fouled, converting the tying free throw.After Kamp missed from close range with 5 seconds left, Jones heaved the ball from three-quarters down the court only to fall just short but on target and send the game into its first OT.Arizona missed two long 3-pointers at the end of the initial extra session with a chance to win it.Some of the game's biggest stars were on the bench when this one was finally decided.Jorge Gutierrez scored a career-high 25 points before fouling out with 2:13 left in the initial overtime on an offensive foul.Wildcats leading scorer Derrick Williams fouled out with 21.9 seconds remaining in regulation, finishing with 12 points and 18 rebounds in a game that featured 73 attempted free throws - 42 of those by Cal.Arizona made five of its first nine second-half shots after a high-flying first half in which both teams shot 50 percent or better. But the Wildcats went 3 minutes, 15 seconds without scoring between 3-pointers by Jamelle Horne and Jones, and Cal pulled to 59-54 on Gutierrez's 3 at the 11:43 mark.And then this one turned a tad testy.Arizona's Solomon Hill was whistled for an intentional foul on the offensive end against Gutierrez with 11:12 to play. Officials turned to replay to see if Hill had deliberately thrown an elbow, then called the intentional. Gutierrez made both free throws and Allen Crabbe hit a jumper the next time down to make it a one-point game, 59-58.Wildcats coach Sean Miller called timeout but it didn't stop Cal's momentum.Gutierrez gave his team its first lead of the half with a basket at 8:40.This marked another tight, physical game between the teams after Arizona beat Cal 73-71 back on Jan. 6 in Tucson - a game in which Williams went off for a career-high 31 points.Still playing with his shooting hand taped to protect his injured right pinkie, Williams wasn't much of a factor in this outcome.Crabbe scored 27 points and Brandon Smith dished out a career-high 11 assists for Cal, which nearly pulled off the upset that had the raucous home crowd of 9,723 on the edge of its seats at Haas Pavilion.