BEARS MISSED MARK AT WASHINGTON STATE  

CAL MORE ACCURATE ON 3-POINTERS THAN FREE THROWS 

By JOHN AKERS 
Mercury News Staff Writer

Free throws weren't the only problem Cal encountered in its 83-71 loss
Thursday night at Washington State. The closer to the basket the No. 17 Bears
got, it seemed, the worse off they were.

They made only 12 of 32 free throws (37.5 percent), but that was just a new
verse to an old song. The Bears (7-2) came into the game shooting 59 percent,
a figure that fell to 56.4. Tremaine Fowlkes (3 for 9), Ryan Jamison (0 for
4), Randy Duck (1 for 4) and Michael Stewart (1 for 4) combined to make only
5 of 21 free throws.

Cal also made only 19 of 55 shots (34.5 percent) inside the three-point arc.
It makes little sense, but they shot best -- 7 for 15 (46.7 percent) -- from
three-point range. 

The Bears will attempt to halt their two-game losing streak today against
Washington (4-5) in Seattle. Cal hasn't lost three in a row since the string
of three losses in 1992-'93 that led indirectly to Lou Campanelli's firing
and the hiring of Todd Bozeman as the Bears' head coach.

Bozeman has said poor free-throw shooting is a trend across the nation. His
approach to the problem is to avoid calling attention to it -- fearing that
the more that is made of it, the worse it will become.

That probably will be his approach to the missed field goals, also. He
initially was unhappy with his team's inside game, but upon review noted that
his team grabbed a season-high 26 offensive rebounds and got off 25 more
shots than the Cougars (5-3). He couldn't, then, fault that effort.

Defensively, the Bears called off their bread-and-butter half-court trap in
the second half because of foul problems that allowed the Cougars to make 34
of 43 free throws.

Without the trap, the Bears were just another team. The Cougars committed
only five turnovers in the second half. The Bears had only six steals for the
game, tying a season low.