Cal barely avoids falling upset victim in Anaheim

• Tweet

• Tweet

ANAHEIM, Ca. – The first day of DirecTV Classic action began with an upset and nearly closed on the same note nearly 10 hours later Thursday night.

Pacific opened things in the Anaheim Convention Center Arena by edging Xavier, 70-67.

Then, in the fourth game of the event, Cal trailed by nine points with about eight minutes to go before digging ever-so-deeply to pull out a 73-70 victory.

On a night when Cal standout Allen Crabbe was held to two points in the first half (he came through with 13 after intermission), backcourt mates Justin Cobbs and Brandon Smith came through down the stretch to help Crabbe mount the comeback.

The action Thursday also produced a West Coast Conference showdown, of sorts.

With victories by Pacific and Saint Mary’s, the teams earned a slot in the first semifinal Friday afternoon (12:30 PT).

It will serve as a sneak preview of a non-conference game set to be played on the Saint Mary’s Moraga campus on Dec. 19.

And Pacific moves from the Big West to the WCC a year from now.

A closer look at the four games:

*Pacific 70, Xavier 67: The Tigers found themselves in a 9-0 hole two minutes into the game,

Not to worry, though, as Bob Thomason’s club earned the Big West Conference’s initial first-day victory in the event with an upset of the Atlantic 10 Conference power.

After that initial outburst, UOP did a solid job of keeping the Musketeers out of transition and of keeping the standout backcourt of sophomore Dee Davis and freshman Semaj Christon from dominating the proceedings as the duo settled for 10 of 25 from the field and 32 points.

Thomas got scoring out of 10 of the 11 athletes he put on the floor, largely because the Tigers – after their rough start against the Musketeers’ pressure – executed so well, offensively.

After finally starting to click to finish at 12 of 27 (44 percent) from the field in the first 20 minutes, the Tigers couldn’t have been much better after intermission while hitting 17 of 24 from the field (71 percent).

Forty-four of the Tigers points came from reserves, with Trevin Harris (16 points) and Travis Fulton and Tony Gill (10 apiece) in double figures.

Thomason announced his retirement last spring, effective at the end of this season.

And Thomason, who has more Big West victories than any coach in history, may be on track to go out with a conference championship bang.

This is a deep and veteran team with a lot of ways to beat an opponent, as Xavier – which beat Butler by 15 points on Nov. 13 – found out before the Musketeers were able to enjoy their Thanksgiving feast Thursday.

*Saint Mary’s 76, Drexel 64: Matthew Dellavedova was in West Coast Conference Player of the Year and Australian Olympic team form Thursday afternoon.

And that was too bad for the Dragons.

Dellavedova, who started in a backcourt with former Gaels standout Pattie Mills and helped the Aussies advantage to the quarterfinals in London, dropped in 32 points while hitting 10 of 12 from the field (including two of five from behind the arc) and 10 of 12 at the free-throw line.

He converted nearly every conceivable shot attempt, most notably floaters, runners and deep jumpers.

Three of his four assists went to sophomore center Brad Waldow (who added 15 points). And guard James Walker III (who started his Division I career at Utah State before earning California Community College Player of the Year accolades at Citrus last season) chipped in with 13, nine of those after intermission.

*Georgia Tech 54, Rice 36: The Owls hit just 11 o 48 shots from the field – missing 21 of 30 attempts from behind the arc – and were out-rebounded, 50-38.

Those two facts considered, it’s probably wondrous that the Owls were relatively close to the Yellow Jackets much of the way.

Marcus Georges-Hunt was the only Georgia Tech player to score in double figures (with 11 points) while Austin Ramljak provide the bulk of the scoring for Rice.

Ramljak, a Southern California resident who played at Thousand Oaks High and Ventura College, his six of his 12 shots – all behind the arc – for half of his team’s points.

He was four of seven from the field in the second half when he was the only Owl to convert a field goal.

*Cal 73, Drake 70: The Golden Bears (4-0) out-rebounded the Bulldogs by 14 but struggled over a big portion of the contest in trying to guard Drake’s half-court offense.

Cobbs led the way with 21 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

And freshman Tyrone Wallace was outstanding through much of the way, scoring nine points with seven rebounds and three assists in 23 minutes off the bench for Coach Mike Montgomery’s team, which takes on Georgia Tech at 9 o’clock Friday evening.