EUGENE, Ore. -- Even after an uneven performance, Justin Cobbs got his wish.
With the score tied and time running out, Cobbs drained a long jump shot with 0.7 seconds left to send California past No. 23 Oregon 48-46 on Thursday night.
The shot, which came after the Golden Bears (17-9, 9-5 Pac-12) ran nearly all of the final 26 seconds off the clock, hit nothing but net.
"Pure as the driven snow," Cal coach Mike Montgomery said.
The shot was bit of redemption for Cobbs, who had a team-high 14 points to go with eight rebounds and seven assists. But the junior guard also had a team-high eight turnovers.
But with the game on the line, he asked for the ball.
"Just the whole game I felt like I had a lot of mental lapses and I owed it to my team," Cobbs said. "I've been working on my jump shot a lot and I knew if I got the ball in the right spot I'd be able to knock it down."
Allen Crabbe, the Pac-12's leading scorer, had 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting. Richard Solomon also had eight points and 11 rebounds.
Arsalan Kazemi had 11 points and a season-high 18 rebounds for the Ducks (21-6, 10-4), who lost their 11th straight game to the Bears. Carlos Emory scored 13 points for Oregon, which hasn't beaten Cal since Feb. 9, 2008.
Oregon lost sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 with the loss. The Ducks are tied with Arizona.
Cal, meanwhile, continued its climb up the rankings with its sixth win in seven games. The Bears are tied with Arizona State for third place, one game behind the Ducks and Wildcats.
"The last game against California, I told Coach I let him down, I didn't play my best," said Kazemi, who had 10 points and six rebounds in a 58-54 loss to Cal three weeks ago. "And it really hurts right now sitting here and not winning this game."
The Ducks' season-low 27.6 percent shooting led to a season low in points. Oregon was 16 for 58 from the field, 2 for 15 from 3-point range and 12 for 20 from the free throw line.
"That's really a disappointing loss," said Oregon coach Dana Altman, who was going for his 600th career win. "The guys played awfully hard, but you got to hit some shots. We had some open looks and didn't knock them down."
Oregon, which led 26-21 at halftime, was up 46-43 with 2:06 to play when Robert Thurman recorded a three-point play for Cal on a dunk and free throw to tie it.
Oregon had possession with under a minute to play but missed on two shots before Cal got the rebound and called a timeout with 26.3 seconds left.
In the huddle, Cobbs asked for the final shot.
"He wanted it, he felt it, he said, `Give me the ball. Give me the ball,"' Montgomery said. "He made that shot. It was fabulous."
Cal trailed by 11 points in the first half but came back to tie the score 29-29 on a dunk by Thurman 4 minutes into the second half.
Oregon went back up 37-33 on a free throw and 3-pointer by E.J. Singler, but the Bears followed with a 6-0 run and Cobbs hit a jumper to put them up 39-37 with 7:12 to play. It was Cal's first lead since early in the first half.
Trailing 41-39, Oregon followed with five straight points to go ahead 44-41 with 3:30 to play, setting the stage for Cal's final heroics.
Kazemi had 14 rebounds and six points in the first half, and Emory sparked Oregon early after Cal scored the first six points of the game.
The senior forward came off the bench to score nine points in a 16-2 run that put the Ducks up 16-8 at the 10:18 mark.
Each goaltender made outstanding saves later in the second to keep the game at 2-2. Schneider made a nice skate save on Benn at 12:55 and Nilstorp denied Burrows' breakaway attempt at 17:35.
I saw him at the side, thought maybe he would tip it and sure enough, he pulls it," Schneider said. "Somehow I swung my leg around and got a toe on it. It was a little bit of luck, but I was able to stay with him."
Source: http://www.bbstate.com/news/648440
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