Arizona Beats Cal in 3 OT Thriller

by David Cassilo / @dcassilo

Pac-10 basketball has provided little excitement the last few years, but on Saturday night it gave us perhaps the game of the year in college basketball when Arizona outlasted California in three overtimes for a 107-105 victory.

Most of the credit for Saturday’s victory has to be given to Arizona’s Lamont Jones. With 16 seconds left in regulation, Jones converted on a 3-point play to send the game to overtime. In the second overtime, Jones hit a 3-pointer with five seconds left to send it to a third extra session. Then in that final period, Jones made the go-ahead layup with just over a minute to play.

The game was naturally filled with impressive lines. Harper Kamp had 33 points and 10 rebounds for California, and Arizona’s Kevin Parrom came off the bench to put up 25 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Parrom and the rest of the Arizona bench outscored California’s 52 to 3.

Sean Miller was proud of how his Wildcats were able to survive the game.

From the Tuscon Citizen:

“It was heck of a basketball game,” UA coach Sean Miller said. “It’s a shame that one of us had to lose. I almost feel bad winning because we could have lost this game 10 times but I don’t feel that bad. We had a lot of individual players answer the bell.

“Sometimes it’s not about the plays you draw up or the strategy, it’s about the guys out there executing. We were resilient and it was a great team effort.”

The win continues what has been a very surprising season for Arizona. The Wildcats are now 20-4 on the season, and lead the Pac-10 by 1.5 games. Everybody knows about super-sophomore Derrick Williams, but with him fouling out early Saturday night, Arizona showed that the rest of its roster can win games too.