Jan. 15, 2005
By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer
BERKELEY, Calif. - Chris Hernandez scored 14 of his 19 points in thefirst half and made a season-high five 3-pointers as Stanford beat rivalCalifornia for the 14th time in 16 meetings with a 74-58 victory Saturday.
Rob Little added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Cardinal (8-7, 2-3Pac-10), who led by as many as 20 and have won five of the last seven games inBerkeley. Dan Grunfeld had 18 points and eight rebounds in Stanford's firstgame since last Saturday's 11-point upset win over Arizona in which he had acareer-high 29.
Rod Benson had 24 points and 11 rebounds as Cal lost its third straight gamewith sloppy play and poor decision making. The Golden Bears (8-7, 1-4) couldn'tovercome 21.9 percent shooting and 10 turnovers in the first half.
Benson scored Cal's first 12 points of the second half, but it wasn't enoughin this matchup of two disappointing programs that certainly aren't accustomedto such mediocrity - especially after Stanford went 30-2 last season and wasranked No. 1.
It marked the first time in 12 years that the Bay Area rivals met with bothteams having losing conference records.
Richard Midgley returned to the Bears' starting lineup after playing onlysix minutes in a 79-70 loss to Arizona State last Saturday as he nursed asprained right shoulder. Midgley threw up an airball in the opening minutes andgrimaced as he grabbed his shoulder, then hit a baseline 3-pointer about aminute later and finished with 13 points and five assists.
Cal guard Ayinde Ubaka also was back in the lineup after recovering fromNovember foot surgery, giving the Bears nine scholarship players for the firsttime since Nov. 23, three games into their season.
Ubaka checked in at the 16:25 mark of the first half and played limitedtime. He finished with five points and three assists in 22 minutes.
Leon Powe, out the entire season as he recovers from reconstructive kneesurgery in September, sat in the Cal student section before the game doingcheers with the crowd. Powe then came out in uniform before tipoff and threwhis arms in the air to get the fans going.
The Cardinal have played 10 of their 15 games away from Maples Pavilion,which received a $30 million facelift last year.
The Bears started the game 4-for-15 but kept the game close thanks toMidgley's two 3-pointers and the fact Stanford also came out cold on offense.Midgley picked up his third foul 6:39 before halftime, and Stanford used a 15-4run late in the half on the way to a 36-21 lead at the break - the Bears'second fewest points in a half all season.