CAL FALLS SHORT AGAINST ARIZONA

By JOHN AKERS
Mercury News Staff Writer

BERKELEY -- Damon Stoudamire played what might have been the best 20 minutes
of his life Thursday, enough to propel No. 13 Arizona to a 99-86 victory over
No. 20 Cal.

Stoudamire scored 21 of his 26 points in the first half, outdueling Cal's
Monty Buckley, who scored 19 of his 27 in the opening 20 minutes, which ended
with the Wildcats leading 46-34. Stoudamire, guarded by Anwar McQueen, was
held scoreless for the first 14 minutes of the second half, but the Wildcats
(11-3 overall, 1-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference) managed to hold off the
Bears (8-3, 1-2).

The Bears pulled to within 49-45 soon after Michael Stewart blocked three of
four Arizona shots and got the sellout crowd back into the game. But the
Wildcats soon worked their lead back to 60-50. They never trailed by fewer
than 10 points over the final 10 minutes.

Stoudamire opened the first half with a long three-pointer and ended it with
a 20-footer. In between, he beat the Bears defenders with three-point shots
taken from well beyond NBA range, by beating his defenders off the dribble
and by beating the Cal defense downcourt on the fastbreak.


Stoudamire scored his 21 first-half points on 9-for-11 shooting, plus he had
five assists and four rebounds.

Buckley was a worthy adversary, however. He scored 10 points in one 71-second
stretch that took the Bears from a 21-12 deficit to a 22-21 lead.

Soon after, Stoudamire took over again. He drove K.J. Roberts hard into the
lane, stopped and hit a jumper. Then he hit a three-pointer. Corey Williams
added a three-pointer, and Ben Davis a tip-in, and the Wildcats held a 37-26
lead.

The Bears went six possessions in a row without scoring. That stretch ended
with Coach Todd Bozeman calling a timeout and venting his anger at them.

The Bears made 13 of 35 shots in the first half, for 37.1 percent. The
Wildcats made 20 of 32, for 62.5 percent.

The Wildcats played much of the first half without freshman guard Miles
Simon, who landed on his wrist at the end of a fastbreak layup.