Coaches, players ejected after Stanford-Cal brawl

AP

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Chasson Randle felt Stanford delivered an important message to California while completing the Cardinal's first sweep of their cross-bay rival in five years.

Dealing a blow to the Golden Bears' Pac-12 title hopes just made it sweeter.

Randle scored 20 points, Josh Huestis added 18 and Stanford beat California 83-70 on Wednesday, ending the Bears' seven-game winning streak.

"We know they're a tough team, and we wanted to prove we were tough also," Randle said. "I think we did that tonight."

The win, only Stanford's fifth since January, came in a game that was highlighted by seven technical fouls, six of which came following a scuffle between the two teams late in the second half.

Players and coaches from both teams streamed onto the floor after Cal's Allen Crabbe and Stanford's Aaron Bright wrestled for the ball. After getting separated, Crabbe gave Stanford's Dwight Powell a hard shove in the back before being restrained as players from both teams shoved one another. Bears coach Mike Montgomery ushered center Richard Solomon off the court, then Justin Cobbs and Bright screamed at one another as Bright was being walked off the court by Powell.

Referees watched television replays to sort things out before assessing technical fouls on Crabbe, Cobbs and Justin Wallace of Cal, and Randle, Powell and Bright of Stanford. Additionally, Solomon and Stanford's Gabriel Harris were ejected for leaving the bench, while Cal assistant coach Gregg Gottlieb and Stanford assistants Mark Madsen and Charles Payne were also ejected.

"Both teams were playing hard, and emotions (were) running high," Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. "I don't think anyone was doing anything that was below the belt. It was just guys playing hard."

Stanford led most of the first half, then went on a 19-4 run coming out of halftime to take control and put a serious dent in Cal's hopes for a Pac-12 title.

The Bears (20-10, 12-6), who went into the game a half-game behind first-place Oregon, seemed energized when play resumed but couldn't dig out of the hole and now need a lot of help in order to get the top seed for the conference tournament. The Ducks have two games remaining and would need to lose both, while UCLA, which also lost Wednesday, would have to lose its finale at Washington on Saturday.

"I guess we didn't come out prepared," said Crabbe, who had 24 points. "It seemed like everything was going in for them tonight."

Bright chipped in 16 points for the Cardinal (18-13, 9-9 Pac-12), while Powell had 11 points and six rebounds.

Stanford, which beat Cal 69-59 on Jan. 19, recorded its first sweep in the 99-year-old rivalry since 2007-08.

Cal went into the game with one of the best 3-point defenses in the Pac-12 but had no answer for Stanford's perimeter game in the first half. The Cardinal connected on five of their first nine attempts from beyond the arc, two from Randle.

Randle, who struggled with his touch in the first meeting between the two teams, had 10 points in the first half, including a three-pointer that gave Stanford a 34-29 lead with 1:54 remaining.

David Kravish later missed a tip-in when Solomon crashed into him from behind but came back to make a short hook shot to cut Cal's deficit to 34-31 at halftime.

Stanford took control with a 19-4 run to open the second half. More than half of the points came at the free-throw line as the Cardinal repeatedly took advantage of the Bears' self-inflicted mistakes.

Solomon was called for back-to-back fouls in a 94-second span during the run, teammate Brandon Smith was whistled for an intentional foul and Montgomery was hit with a technical after yelling at one of the referees.

Huestis and Randle hit consecutive 3s to push Stanford's lead to 64-46 with 8:29 left. Randle later scored on a layup to make it 72-53 just before the scuffle broke out.

"Each time we made a mistake, it seemed like we paid a price for it," Montgomery said. "We panicked a little bit and tried to force some stuff that wasn't there."