Anchorage Daily News

California's big men gave the Golden Bears a big lead. The little guys kept them from blowing it.

In a championship game befitting what was a remarkably close tournament all week, the Bears held off a late comeback by Loyola Marymount and won the 2006 Great Alaska Shootout 78-70 Saturday night at Sullivan Arena.

DeVon Hardin was a monster inside in the first half and tournament Most Outstanding Player Ryan Anderson recorded his second double-double of the week as the Bears became the fourth Pac-10 team to win the Shootout.

"I was just trying to step up when we needed it," said Anderson, who had 15 points and 12 rebounds. "We wanted to get our name out there and this (winning) is how to do it."

It was the play of guard Ayinde Ubaka down the stretch that kept Cal from blowing an 18-point second-half lead.

Each time the Lions put on a little run to get within five or six points, Ubaka drained a clutch long-range jumper to stem the tide.

"He's clutch," Cal's Jerome Randle said. "That's his middle name -- clutch. When we need a big shot, we know who to get the ball to. He's a great leader on the floor."

The Bears took control of the game with an 8-2 run at the end of the first half and a 12-2 spurt to open the second.

Down 57-39 with about 13 minutes left in the game, Loyola Marymount came back behind the play of guards Brandon Worthy and Adoyah Miller.

Miller scored nine points and Worthy four for the Lions as the got within 59-52.

Then Ubaka hit the first of his key jumpers, a three-pointer straight on, to stop the bleeding.

Anderson added a layup to make it a 12-point game again with 4:56 left, but Matthew Knight put back a rebound and Miller drained another three-pointer to make it 66-60.

Again it was Ubaka who put an end to the comeback hopes and give Cal its first regular season tournament win -- other than its own tournament -- since 1975.

It was also a nice birthday present for head coach Ben Braun, who celebrated his 53rd earlier in the day.

"It's a real nice feeling, especially on coach's birthday," Anderson said. "It's a long trip up here. It was a blast. We loved it. We had a real good time. We just played real well. Everybody."

Ubaka had 17 points and fellow guard Omar Wilkes scored 18, including some important hoops late.

The first half was an extended highlight reel for Hardin, who had four emphatic dunks -- three on impressive power post moves and another on a high-flying alley-oop from Randle.

"He is so athletic," Randle said. "He told me, 'Throw it up at the top of the backboard' and I looked at him like he was crazy. But he caught the ball and just jammed it in there. Devon is just a great athlete."

Hardin finished the half with 14 points and eight rebounds. He had 16 and nine for the game.

And though Loyola had no defensive answer for the 6-11 junior, the Lions hung in on the play of their own inside presence, 6-8 Australian Knight.

He scored 10 points to keep Loyola Marymount within six points at the half. For the game Knight had 14 points and nine rebounds. The Lions were led by Worthy's 18 points. Miller added 17 off the bench.

Midway through the half, Loyola was shooting 43.5 percent but cratered down the stretch to 35.1. Cal meanwhile checked in at a 58.1 clip, thanks to 12 buckets around the basket.

The Bears finished the game at 55.4 percent. Loyola shot 38.6.

The game -- the first between Cal and the Lions since the postseason NIT in 1986 -- started out swiftly, with no stoppages in play after the opening tip went out of bounds until 4:09 had run off the clock. The first personal foul didn't come until almost 10 minutes had elapsed.

But things slowed down later in the half and the game was delayed on a couple of occasions as officials reviewed plays and the shot clocks over the baskets malfunctioned.

The last of those holdups lasted several minutes before the decision was made to continue the game without the clocks. The Sullivan Arena public address announcer called out whenever the shot clock ticked down to 10 and 5 seconds.

The problem was solved during halftime festivities, which included a three-quarters-court-length shot for $1 million by a fan. It missed.

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT (70) -- Knight 7-18 0-0 14; Grubb 2-11 1-2 6; Worthy 8-16 0-0 18; Martin 2-4 0-1 4; Ziri 0-3 1-2 1; Counts 0-1 2-2 2; Miller 5-10 3-3 17; Montgomery 1-3 0-0 3; Deric 2-4 1-2 5. Totals -- 27-70 8-12 70.

CALIFORNIA (78) -- Robertson 1-4 2-2 4; Anderson 6-9 2-2 15; Hardin 8-13 0-0 16; Ubaka 5-15 5-5 17; Wilkes 8-10 2-2 18; Randle 3-3 0-0 8; Vierneisel 0-1 0-0 0; Christopher 0-1 0-0 0; Harrison 0-0 0-0 0. Totals -- 31-56 11-11 78.

Three-point goals -- Loyola 8-23 (Miller 4-7, Worthy 2-6, Grubb 1-3, Montgomery 1-3, Knight 0-1, Martin 0-1, Ziri 0-1, Counts 0-1), Cal 5-14 (Randle 2-2, Ubaka 2-5, Anderson 1-4, Wilkes 0-1, Christopher 0-1, Vierneisel 0-1. Total fouls -- Loyola 13, Cal 15. Rebounds -- Loyola 35 (Knight 9), Cal 34 (Anderson 12). Assists -- Loyola 15 (Martin 4), Cal 21 (Randle 6). Fouled out -- Robertson. A -- 6,705.

Loyola Marymount 33 37 -- 70

California 39 39 -- 78