College Basketball Roundup : Cal Beats Oregon State; Stanford Edges Oregon

Guard Kevin Johnson scored 22 points to lead California to a 69-61 victory over Oregon State in its Pacific-10 basketball opener Sunday at Berkeley.

Center Leonard Taylor added 16 points and forward Dave Butler had 15 to help California improve its record to 6-2. Guard Eric Knox led Oregon State, which dropped to 5-1, with 21 points, while center Jose Ortiz added 20.

California led for much of the game, taking a 39-31 halftime advantage, with Johnson scoring 15 of his points in the first half. Oregon State’s Knox also had 15 points before the intermission.

California extended its lead to 53-39 when guard Chris Washington scored on a driving layup with 12:36 left. But Oregon State’s Ortiz then led his team on a 16-4 run to slice Cal’s lead to two points, 57-55, with 4:27 remaining.

Cal’s Butler responded with a short jump shot and Taylor and forward Jeff Huling each added a pair of free throws to build California’s lead back to 63-55. After Oregon State’s Brian Brundage scored, California ran off five straight points to take a 68-57 lead with 1:07 left.

Cal Coach Lou Campanelli was pleased with his team’s play, particularly on offense.

“Other than one bad stretch, we played well offensively,” Campanelli said. “When they got within two, Dave (Butler) came back with the big basket that gave us a lift.”

Campanelli and Oregon State Coach Ralph Miller agreed that Johnson was the key player in Cal’s victory. Johnson had five assists, three rebounds and two steals in addition to his 22 points.

“It was extremely tough with Mr. Johnson having an on night,” Miller said. “He’s played well against us in the past, but I’m not sure this wasn’t the best performance I’ve seen him put on. As a result, the inexperience we have showed up at various parts of the game.”

Another important factor for California was containing Oregon State’s Ortiz, who entered the game averaging 27 points per game. California used constant double-teaming on defense to limit Ortiz to 20.

“He missed his first couple of shots, and all of a sudden, he was thinking of other things,” said Miller. “Everyone will sag on him until we educate them that we can hit the outside shot.”

Stanford 73, Oregon 71--Reserve center Eric Reveno took a pass inside from guard Terry Taylor with two seconds left and sank the winning layup to give the Cardinal a victory in its Pac-10 opener at Stanford.

Oregon guard Anthony Taylor, who led all scorers with 22 points, had tied the game at 71 with 26 seconds left. Both teams then called timeouts, before Reveno hit for the winning points. Taylor missed a long jumper at the buzzer.

Forward Todd Lichti led Stanford with 21 points and teammate Greg Butler, a forward, had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Reveno contributed a career-high 16 points.

Stanford improved to 5-2 overall and Oregon slipped to 4-3 overall.

Georgia Tech 63, SMU 54--Duane Ferrell scored 17 points and Tom Hammonds added 16 to lead the Yellow Jackets to the Suntory tournament championship at Tokyo.

Hammonds led the Yellow Jackets to two victories in the three-team tournament and was named Most Valuable Player.

Georgia Tech, 5-2 overall, beat Boston College Saturday, 65-62. Boston College (6-3) lost to SMU (6-2) Friday, 62-49.

SMU center Terry Williams scored 23 points, and Carlton McKinney added 12. Georgia Tech, which led 35-24 at halftime, received 10 points from Bruce Dalrymple.

UNLV 79, Louisiana Tech 75--Armon Gilliam scored 7 of his game-high 34 points in the last 3 1/2 minutes Saturday night to lead the No. 1-ranked Rebels to the championship game of the Rebel Roundup at Las Vegas.

Las Vegas (9-0) was helped by Freddie Banks’ 17 points. The Bulldogs, led by 25 points by Robert Godbolt and 23 from Lewis Cook, fell to 4-4.

Louisiana Tech, which had fallen behind by 12 points early in the second half, closed to within two points on two occasions, the last time at 65-63 with 7:31 left on Godbolt’s jumper. Gilliam and Banks scored consecutive baskets to stretch the lead again.