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Anderson, California shock No. 17 Oregon

Feb 16, 2007 - 8:18 AM BERKELEY, California (Ticker) -- Freshman Ryan Anderson made sure California did just enough to end a lengthy losing streak.

Anderson scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half as the Golden Bears halted a six-game losing streak with a 63-61 victory over No. 17 Oregon in a Pac-10 Conference contest.

Fellow freshman Patrick Christopher added a season-high 16 points for California (13-12, 5-8 Pac-10), which beat Oregon for the seventh consecutive time here.

The Golden Bears also halted a three-game skid against ranked teams, improving to 2-6 this season vs. the top 25.

"This was a huge win for our team tonight," said Anderson, who shot 7-of-12 from the field. "We need to start getting wins and get on a winning streak. We've been playing a lot of ranked teams and it feels good finally knocking off a ranked team."

Despite watching the Ducks grab a seven-point lead with 8:26 remaining behind a 16-8 run, the Bears answered right back as Anderson and Theo Robertson scored on layups and Christopher hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 57-57 with 6:36 left.

Oregon (20-6, 8-6) later pulled back ahead at 61-59 on a follow shot by Bryce Taylor with 4:29 to play. But that proved to be the end of the scoring for the Ducks, who missed their final seven shots.

"When you do everything right and put your team in a position to win, you have got to follow through," Oregon coach Ernie Kent said. "That's on us. We have to make free throws and layups. We missed far too many shots that we should have made."

California also hit a cold spell until Anderson gave it the final lead on a three-point play with 1:01 remaining.

"It was a bullet pass," Anderson said of the crucial play. "(Ayinde) Ubaka launched it inside to me and he had the confidence in me to finish the play. We were trying to get the ball inside all night, get some fouls and get to the line. They are not a real big team down low, so we knew we could match up well and take advantage inside, which we did."

"If anyone has a better pair of hands than Ryan Anderson, then I'd like to meet him," Cal coach Ben Braun said.

Overall, California held a 30-24 advantage in points in the paint.

Ubaka, who finished with a career-high 12 rebounds, then split two free throws for the Golden Bears with 35 seconds left after being fouled while grabbing a defensive board.

Behind Ubaka's effort, California had a deficit of just two, 35-33, against an Oregon squad that averages nearly four more rebounds than its opponent.

"What a great effort by Ayinde Ubaka with those 12 rebounds, a career high for him," Braun said. "That's our leader and an extension of our team. That's what it's all about. That's the kind of performance we need out of (uniform) No. 1."

Losing for the fourth time in five games, Oregon had two chances to tie the game in the closing seconds. But Taylor missed a jumper and Chamberlain Oguchi was off the mark after grabbing the offensive rebound.

"We ran a play in the huddle," Kent said. "(Taylor) was wide open from about 15 feet. We also got another shot up off of a rebound. You can't get two better looks in 13 seconds."

Freshman Tajuan Porter had 14 points for Oregon, which finished 7-of-13 (54 percent) on free throws, including 2-of-4 in the second half.

The Ducks, who absorbed a 77-74 loss to Arizona on Saturday, came out strong with a 12-3 lead and held a 20-8 advantage after a layup by Aaron Brooks with 10:35 left in the first half.

However, the Golden Bears battled back, closing the first half with a 17-0 run to take a 35-27 advantage at intermission. Anderson had six points and Omar Wilkes added five of his 10 points in the burst.

California also closed the game with a 13-4 spurt.

"Everything was working early, but you have to close out the first and second half," Kent said. "Cal had a scoring streak going into halftime, and also to close out the game."