There’s No Gray Area When It Comes to Scoring for Cal Guard

Ed Gray made his reputation on a talented but unreliable California team last season as a player who could provide instant offense off the bench.

Gray averaged 15.6 points as the sixth man for the Bears, who struggled to a 17-11 record and NCAA Tournament berth even with since-departed talents such as Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Tremaine Fowlkes and Jelani Gardner.

Now that Gray is the focal of the offense, his scoring has soared--and so have the fortunes of team.

Gray made 12 of 20 shots and scored 28 points in Cal’s 80-52 victory over Washington on Saturday in a Pacific 10 Conference game at Berkeley.

Cal, a surprising 14-5 overall, won its 14th consecutive game at Harmon Gym and improved its conference record to 5-3 to move into fourth place.

The Bears have won five of their last six games and Gray has averaged 29.5 points in that span. He scored 17 points in the first half to help Cal take a 37-25 halftime lead then had nine more during a 20-2 second-half run that put away Washington (10-5, 3-4).

Center Todd MacCulloch led Washington with 12 points, while guard Jamie Booker had 11 points and eight rebounds.

Guard Randy Duck had 15 points and seven assists for Cal.

No. 11 Arizona 88, Oregon 66--Forward Michael Dickerson scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half as the Wildcats (12-4, 5-2) pulled away at Tucson for their 12th consecutive victory over the Ducks (11-5, 2-5).

Oregon trailed, 37-23, at halftime, but guard Jamal Lawrence led a 10-2 run with a pair of three-point baskets that cut the cut the deficit to seven.

Arizona regrouped with a free throw from Dickerson, a three-point play by Bennett Davison and a short jumper from Miles Simon to take 48-35 lead.

Freshman guard Mike Bibby had 19 points for Arizona, which had five players score in double figures.

Lawrence led Oregon with 18 points and guard Kenya Wilkins had 17.

No. 17 Stanford 81, Washington State 61--The Cardinal (13-3, 6-2) took advantage of its decided height advantage with 7-foot-1 center Tim Young at Stanford.

Young, six inches taller than any of the Washington State starters, had 19 points and nine rebounds and his presence opened up the lane for players such as Pete Sauer (14 points) and freshman Mark Madsen (a career-high nine).

Guard Brevin Knight was highly effective for Stanford, getting 17 points, eight assists, seven steals and seven rebounds.

Forward Carlos Daniel had 17 points for Washington State (10-8, 2-5) and guard Isaac Fontaine had 16, five below his season average. The Cougars won last season at Stanford, the only team in the past two years to win at Maples Pavilion.

Stanford scored the first 12 points of the game and had an 11-0 run in the second half.

Arizona State 78, Oregon State 75--Guard Jeremy Veal scored nine of his career-high 29 points in overtime in a matchup of the conference’s two bottom teams at Tempe, Ariz.

The lead changed five times in the final 2:38, with a leaning basket in the lane by Veal forcing the overtime.

Guard Eddie House had 16 points for Arizona State (10-9, 2-5), which had a losing streak at four games. Guard Carson Cunningham had 15 points for Oregon State (5-11, 1-6), which has lost 16 consecutive road games.