Feb. 2, 2002
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - Amit Tamir scored five of his team-high 13 points with less than a minute and a half to go as California broke its first two-game losing streak of the season with a 67-59 win over Arizona State Saturday night.
Ryan Forehan-Kelly also had 13, Joe Shipp got 12 and Solomon Hughes scored 11 for the Bears (15-5, 6-4 Pac-10) who handed the Sun Devils (11-9, 4-7) their third loss in four games.
Tommy Smith scored a game-high 15 points for Arizona State while Shawn Redhage had a season-high 13.
California took control of the game with a 6-0 run to take its biggest lead 49-41 with 9:30 left after a steal and dunk by Shipp. A jumper by Chad Prewitt with 8:55 left broke the run and a 4:47 scoreless streak by ASU.
The Bears eventually increased its lead to 10, but the Sun Devils closed to 58-55 on a 3-pointer by Jason Braxton with 1:42 remaining.
Tamir hit a left-hand hook and after Smith answered with a tough learner in the lane, the 6-10 freshman from Jerusalem hit two more free throws to ice it.
California's conference-leading defense allowed Arizona State's second lowest scoring output of the season. The Sun Devils made just 24 of 62 shots (39 percent) and committed 19 turnovers.
Ten ties and eight lead changes highlighted a sloppy but tight first half, which ended at 29-29. The teams combined to make 21 of 49 shots and commit 17 turnovers.
Both teams were coming off disappointing losses on Thursday. The Sun Devils lost 90-81 to 18th-ranked Stanford, while the Bears lost 68-58 to No. 19 Arizona.