STANFORD UPENDS CAL 78-73 CARDINAL KEEPS BEARS SKIDDING By JOHN AKERS Mercury News Staff Writer BERKELEY -- The game came up big, meeting and perhaps exceeding its Big Game expectations. No. 21 Stanford defeated Cal 78-73 Thursday at Harmon Gym, surviving a late rally that allowed the Bears to tie the game at 70-70 with 2 minutes, 6 seconds remaining and 72-72 with 1:12 left. A drive by Stanford's Dion Cross resulted in a foul on Cal's Jelani Gardner. Cross, the Pacific 10 Conference's leading free-throw shooter, made them both for a 74-72 lead. Cal had a chance to tie or take the lead on a possession that began with 56 seconds remaining. K.J. Roberts tried to get the ball to Gardner, but he was guarded closely by Brevin Knight. Roberts passed instead to Monty Buckley, but the ball bounced off him to teammate Tony Gonzalez, who shot and missed. Stanford's Andy Poppink, fouled on the play, made both free throws to put the Cardinal up 76-72 with 22 seconds left. Knight was most impressive, breaking down Cal defenders and scoring 20 points. Michael Stewart and Gardner kept their sluggish Cal teammates in the game. Stewart had 11 points and tied a Cal record with seven blocked shots. Gardner added 17 points. The Cardinal took a 60-49 lead with 11:54 remaining on a play that could have taken the sails out of the Bears. Cal had Knight corralled with two defenders. Knight lost his dribble, regained it and broke free. He then flipped the ball out to Cross, wide open in the confusion, for a three-pointer. Cal Coach Todd Bozeman refuses to talk about pushing panic buttons, but the finger must be getting itchy. The Bears have lost five of their past six and are 1-4 in the Pac-10, tied for last in the standings. And that's with a road game at No. 4 UCLA coming up on Jan. 28. The Cardinal (12-2, 3-2) is tied for fourth with Washington State, sitting just below UCLA and No. 17 Oregon, who each have one conference loss, and third-place Arizona State. The Cal-Stanford game, one of the most significant in the series' 224 games, started off with the fanfare one would expect. George Shultz, the former secretary of state, was there. During the national anthem, rowdy Cal students shouted ''rockets' blue glare,'' conceding nothing to the Cardinal. Cal band members taped pictures of Stanford center Tim Young's head to their drums. That was fun, but the opening minutes surely put to sleep those on the East Coast who stayed up past midnight for ESPN's late-night game. Stanford didn't make a basket for nearly the first four minutes. missing its first six shots. Cal made only one during that stretch, and it was 2-2 about four and a half minutes into the half. Stanford recovered and surged to a 12-6 lead, as the Bears stumbled to find its offensive game. Knight came out of the game with 9:30 remaining in the half and the Cardinal holding a 16-9 lead, as is Stanford's strategy to keep him in good health. Knight's right shin is in a fragile state, capable of becoming a stress fracture. Coach Mike Montgomery plans to play him for only 10 minutes of each first half, so that Knight will be available for the last half if needed. But without Knight in the game, the Bears scored seven straight points, tying the score at 16-16, and Knight returned after only two minutes on the bench. Stanford does not play another game this week, possibly making Knight available for more minutes than normal. The teams played on even terms for the remainder of the first half, with Knight taking over in the final minutes. He scored 10 points in the final five minutes, including a controversial three-pointer at the buzzer. Knight had driven into the lane with about 10 seconds left and the shot clock running out. He missed the iron, but officials reset the shot clock anyway. Knight took the ball back out to the top of the key and hit a three-pointer, giving the Cardinal a 39-32 lead at halftime. The Cardinal will play a ranked team for the third time in four games next Thursday when it travels to No. 4 UCLA. The Bears, who have played three ranked clubs in a row, get a brief but needed respite with games Sunday at Northridge State and Thursday at Southern Cal. Then they'll face the Bruins, on Jan. 28.