BearTalk

FINAL SCORE: Cal 93, UW 81: Cal improves to 16-8, 8-4 in the Pac-10, and has a two-game lead over the defending champion Huskies, who are 16-8, 6-6. UW still winless outside Seattle — 0-7. Randle had 33 points and may have won the Pac-10 Player of the Year award tonight. Boykin had 20 points and 11 rebounds. Cal outrebounded UW 37-30. Gutierrez had 10 points and five rebounds, Robertson 12 points and eight rebounds and Christopher 11. Five in double figures. Thomas had 25 for UW, Pondexter 17 on 6-for-15 shooting and Overton 15.

2:12 2nd H: Now it’s loud — Cal leads 89-75 after Randle shoveled an alley-oop pass to Christopher for the dunk. Then a UW turnover. Cal ball.

3:49 2nd H: Cal leads 83-73 and Randle (with 31 points) is going to the FT line for 2 shots after being fouled by Thomas (No. 4 PF). Christopher has been sitting since 7:29 when he picked up his fourth foul. He’s checking back in after the timeout. So Cal has Randle, Christoher, Robertson, Boykin and Brandon Smith. Randle made both shots. It’s 85-73.

4:46 2nd H: Cal leads 81-67. Randle is back on the floor, along with Brandon Smith, who just fed Seeley for a layup, beating the press. Overton back at the line for two.

5:38 2nd H: Oh, it’s getting exciting. Cal leads 79-65. Thomas hit a 3-pointer and UW was within 74-65. Then Overton and Thomas collided, both fell to the ground and Randle buried the opener 3-pointer. UW turned the ball over and Randle, on a drive through three UW defenders, went to the floor hard and was helped off the floor. He’s sitting at the end of the bench, looking a bit woozy. Brandon Smith is in. Thomas shooting 1 and 1 at the other end after Robertson foul. Overton missed.

7:29 2nd H: The guy sitting next to me just said, `I don’t think Washington can catch up.’  Then Pondexter turned a steal into a dunk and Thomas got another steal, made a layup, was fouled by Christopher (PF No. 4) and is shooting one. Cal lead is 74-61 and it’s not over yet. Randle has 28, Boykin has 18/10 and Thomas has 18 for UW. Christopher is out for Seeley. Thomas made the FT. It’s 74-62.

11:36 2nd H: Cal’s lead is 66-51, but UW isn’t giving up. A 3-pointer by Seeley made it 66-47 with 13:05 left, but the Huskies have scored the past four points. Gutierrez and Christopher each have three PFs for Cal; Thomas has not picked up No. 4. UW still shooting poorly — 39 percent and 2-for-8 from 3-PT. Call has zero turnovers in the half.

15:47 2nd H: Cal’s lead is 58-43. Randle has 24 points. Pondexter has a pair of baskets early in the half and may be coming alive after a quiet first half.

HALFTIME SCORE: Cal 48, UW 34. Cal’s lead actually reached 48-29 after a pair of free throws by Randle that sent Thomas to the bench with his third PF at 2:08. Randle has 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting and just one turnover in 19 1/2 minutes. Boykin has 10 points and eight rebounds, as Cal holds a 25-12 edge on the boards. Sanders-Frison has played very well again, with three rebounds, two assists and some needed physical play. Robertson and D.J. Seeley each have drawn charges. Cal shooting 51.4 percent, UW 36.7 percent. Pondexter, who scored 25 against Cal last month, has three points on 1-for-6 shooting against defense by Robertson and Gutierrez, with periodic help from others.

3:56 1st H: Cal lead is 41-27 — biggest of the night — after two FTs by Boykin, who has 10 points and 8 rebounds. Randle has 14 points and just got his first break of the game, coming out with 4:06 left. Cal shooting 53 percent, UW 40 percent. Cal has 22-7 rebounding edge against the Pac-10′s top rebounding team. A huge stat. Cal doing a nice job so far on Pondexter, who averages 20.6 ppg but has just 3 points on 1-for-5 FGs. Thomas, with 11 points, is on the bench with two fouls. Crowd finally arrived — good, but not close to filled.

7:23 1st H: Cal’s lead reached 29-17 after a nice scoop shot on a drive by Randle, who has 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting. But two more TOs on their past three possessions — the Bears have seven now — and UW has closed to 29-22 after a 3-pointer by Thomas. Cal dominating the boards 17-6, but the Huskies have cashed in their only two offensive rebounds for baskets.

11:54 1st H: Game is getting physical, and Cal is holding its own. Robertson just took a charge from Overton, who got his money’s worth. Cal leads 20-15. MSF is providing the same energy and physical play he gave the Bears at UCLA. Cal has a 10-3 rebounding edge already. Only flaw in their game so far — 5 turnovers. Cal shooting 9-for-14, UW 6-for-14.

13:19 1st H: Now the place is coming alive. Randle just blew past Venoy Overton for a layup, and Markhuri Sanders-Frison rebounded a missed jumper by Overton, threw the outlet to Gutierrez for the layup and an 18-15 lead.

15:32 1st H: Cal started well, jumping out to leads of 4-0 and 8-4, but has turned the ball over twice in a row and UW leads 10-8. Boykin already has six points and three rebounds, but also two turnovers. Cal shooting 4-for-7, ,UW 4-for-9. Bears have allowed just one offensive rebound.

TIME FOR TIPOFF: Crowd beginning to fill in, but nowhere near a sellout. Amazing.

WHERE IS EVERYONE? To all those legions of long-suffering Cal fans, waiting a half-century to win a Pac-10 title, what gives? This crowd is ridiculous. Maybe half full with 5 minutes to go before tipoff. At Washington if they played a game this big, folks would take the day off. At Kentucky, they’d take the week off. A late-arriving crowd? Maybe they’re coming Saturday for WSU? 

STARTING LINEUPS: Nothing unexpected here. Cal goes with Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher, Jorge Gutierrez, Theo Robertson and Jamal Boykin. UW will start Abdul Gaddy, Isaiah Thomas, Justin Holiday, Quincy Pondexter and Tyreese Breshers.

WELCOME: Back here at Haas Pavilion — boy, seems like forever — for tonight’s game between Cal & UW. Will be interesting to see what kind of crowd and atmosphere we have for this one.

So far the place looks a bit like a ghost town — the beginnings of a good student crowd, but everyone else must still be driving home from work.

Will be back with starting lineups in a few minutes.