BearTalk

FINAL SCORE: Cal 70, Georgia 46. The No. 20 Bears thoroughly dominated the final 25 minutes of this game after trailing by 1 over the first 15 minutes. Cal led by as many as 29 points. The Bears improve to 4-0 heading into Tuesday night’s title game vs. No. 21 Missouri, which will be a much better opponent. Tipoff is 7 p.m. on ESPN2.

Kamp had 16 points, Gutierrez 14 points and seven rebounds, Cobbs 10 points and five assists and Kravish six points, nine rebounds and three blocks in his homecoming to Kansas City. Cal had only two turnovers in the first 17 minutes of the second half, was the stronger team inside and on the perimeter and really showed its experience edge against a young Georgia (3-1) team.

4:16 2nd H: Cal leads 67-38. Montgomery has gotten many of his regulars out of the game. Gutierrez and Kamp have rested for a long spell. Could pay dividends Tuesday night against Missouri. Robert Thurman, Jeff Powers and Emerson Murray are in the game. Make no mistake, when the game was on the line, Monty used seven players.

7:50 2nd H: Crabbe nails a 3-pointer and Cal leads 61-35. Brandon Smith also has hit a jumper and a 3-pointer against Georgia’s zone. Cal has extended the lead with Gutierrez and Kamp on the bench for a few minutes.

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If the No. 20 Golden Bears (3-0) get past Georgia (3-0) they will have their hands full Tuesday night in the championship game of the CBE Classic at Kansas City.

No. 21 Missouri (4-0) enjoyed home cooking at the Sprint Center to rout Notre Dame (4-1) by an 87-58 margin. And the game was no closer than the final score.

Mizzou, athletic and super quick, shot 65.5 percent in the first half to lead 52-37 and finished the game at 58.2 percent. Guard Marcus Denmon led four players in double digits with 26 points. Tim Abromaitis topped the Irish with 22. 

Just FYI, there was no Cal practice or media availability today, so I’ll be back with a blog post Tuesday. But check out this informative slide show from the Arizona Republic on the recent struggles of Arizona State, Cal’s upcoming opponent. Bad times in Tempe …

UCLA forward Reeves Nelson, fresh off an indefinite suspension that lasted all of two days, missed the Sunday team bus — and the flight — to Hawaii, where the Bruins are playing Monday night in the Maui Invitational. Nelson had to take a separate flight to the islands.

Meanwhile . . .

   — Cal moved up to No. 20 in the AP Top-25 and No. 18 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll. Here are both rankings.

   — Arizona announced it has suspended freshman Sidiki Johnson for an indefinite period because of violation of a team policy. Johnson, a 6-8, 235-pound forward, is averaging 0.3 points and 0.7 rebounds.

The 23rd-ranked Bears get their first real tests of the season Monday and Tuesday at the CBE Classic at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

First up in the semifinals is Georgia (3-0), but the next round — regardless of the opponent — may be tougher still. No. 24 Missouri (3-0) or Notre Dame (4-0) looms on Tuesday. Cal faced the Fighting Irish last season in Orlando, Fla., and trailed 21-5 at halftime.

This is the Bears’ first trip out of the Bay Area  and coach Mike Montgomery looks forward to getting a better sense of his team.

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Cal freshman forward David Kravish will play in front of family and friends Monday and Tuesday when the Bears play in the CBE Classic at Kansas City, Mo.

We just finished a media teleconference with Cal coach Jeff Tedford. He says fullback Will Kapp suffered a broken ankle last night, which seemingly ends the senior’s season. Receiver Michael Calvin will undergo an MRI on his injured knee either Monday or Tuesday to determine his condition.

Oakland native Jabari Brown, the jewel of Oregon’s 2011 freshman class, has left the basketball program.

UO announced Brown’s’ departure before the Ducks beat Southeast Missouri State 86-61 on Sunday.

Brown, who attended Oakland HS last season after returning home from Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nev., was averaging 6.0 points and shooting just 27.3 percent as a starter through two games and led the Ducks with 11 turnovers. But he averaged a team-best 15.4 points on Oregon’s five-game summer tour of Italy.

Brown was a five-star recruit and rated the nation’s No. 19 overall prospect by Rivals.com. Brown was recruited by a long list of schools, including Cal.

“I will say it up front, I don’t want him to leave,” coach Dana Altman said. “The door is still open.”

Here’s more from the Register-Guard in Eugene.

Meanwhile . . .

There are just three undefeated teams left in the Pac-12 Conference — Cal,  Stanford and Oregon State – following Washington’s 77-64 loss at St. Louis.

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I see there’s some encouragement from the fan base over the Bears’ effort in a 31-28 loss to Stanford on Saturday night. It was a solid effort by Cal, no doubt. After Andrew Luck found his rhythm in the third quarter, I thought a blowout was in the making. But the Bears jumped back in the game.

“We played a good game on both sides of the ball,” quarterback Zach Maynard said. “Stanford’s a great team and we couldn’t afford to make the mistakes we made. Other than that, we played a good game.”

A couple things to be encouraged about:

–Maynard turned in a pretty strong game, finishing 20 for 30 for two touchdowns and no interceptions. What a start to his game … he hit Keenan Allen for a 42-yard gain on the first play, and then made a bad pitch to Isi Sofele that Stanford recovered for a turnover. “That was just a bonehead play by me,” Maynard said. But he completed some big passes.

–Allen enjoyed an incredible first quarter, catching six passes for 97 yards and a touchdown. He was everything that Stanford coach David Shaw feared he might be – an athletic downfield threat that Cardinal defensive backs would have trouble matching up against.

–Cal finishes out the regular season next week against an Arizona State team that is struggling. The Bears are 7-1 against the Sun Devils under Jeff Tedford.

A couple of things to be discouraged about:

–After the first quarter, Allen didn’t catch a single pass. In fact, Maynard threw his way just twice after halftime. Tedford said he didn’t think Stanford did anything specifically that took Allen out of the game. Maynard’s take: “Keenan’s a great receiver and they double- and triple-teamed him to keep him from getting the ball.”

–The defense played hard and came up with some big stops. But there were way too many Stanford receivers who broke free with no one around them, particularly fullback Ryan Hewitt, who continuously hurt the Bears by leaking out of the backfield for short passes and turning them into bigger gains.

–Cal has got to find a way to score touchdowns and not settle for field goals in the red zone. Two drives stalled inside Stanford’s 10-yard line in the first half, and those ended up being difference-makers …

Here’s a final version of the notebook I wrote for Sunday’s paper, focusing mainly on Allen.

That’s all for now …

Stanford leads 28-13 at the end of the third quarter, as the Cardinal has definitely taken control since halftime.

Couple of things going on here:

–Andrew Luck is starting to pick apart the Bears’ pass defense. Cal isn’t putting enough pressure on him, and what rush they do get, Luck is able to calmly avoid and still find an open guy. Plus, Cal is having some defensive breakdowns. Stanford tight end Levine Toilolo has been wide open downfield twice — once Luck missed him and once Toilolo dropped an easy catch. … On Stanford’s last touchdown, the fullback released to the right and there wasn’t a defender in sight. Easy score.

–Cal got inside Stanford’s 10 twice in the first half and settled for field goals. As well as they moved the ball in the first two quarters, they should have had more points. You knew Stanford’s offense would crank it up eventually …