California Gets Last Second Win

January 5, 1999 / 3:00 AM EST / AP

Michael Gill had no time to get frustrated over his two missed free throws. He was going to make sure California earned its No. 25 ranking.

Gill hit a layup with 3.5 seconds left to give the Golden Bears a 54-52 victory over Oregon State on Monday night. Less than a minute earlier, he missed the free throws that would have given Cal a four-point lead.

"I knew I had to redeem myself if I got the ball back into my hands," Gill said.

Oregon State's Deaundra Tanner hit a short jumper with 30 seconds left to tie it 52-52. But Gill got the ball and muscled through a tangle of Oregon State players to sink the winning shot in the final seconds.

Gill and Sean Lampley led Cal (10-2, 1-1 Pac-10) with 11 points each, while Thomas Kilgore and Geno Carlisle each added 10. The Golden Bears shot only 29 percent from the field and had their lowest winning point total since beating St. Mary's 53-51 in 1986.

"Things are not falling into place right now," Kilgore said. "We just work with what we have. It's a tough conference. If you don't come out to play, teams are going to exploit you."

Jason Heide led Oregon State (6-5, 0-2) with 15 points and 11 rebounds, followed by Iyan Walker with 14 points and Tanner with 10.

The Beavers have lost four of their last five games.

"Our players did a fine job," coach Eddie Payne said. "Obviously, we made mistakes. But I think we deserved to win tonight, and we didn't."

The Golden Bears, who moved into the Top 25 earlier in the day, played timidly in the first half and trailed 25-24 at the break.

Cal built a 24-16 lead on Carl Boyd's dunk with 7:12 left in the first half, but it was the Bears' last basket of the half. Oregon State closed with a 9-0 run, including five points by Heide.

Oregon State took a 37-30 lead on Heide's slam early in the second half, but Cal fought back and tied it 37-37 on Lampley's free throw.

The Bears went ahead 40-39 on Kilgore's 3-pointer before the Beavers rallied for a 47-43 advantage. Carlisle then hit a 3-pointer and a free throw to tie it again with 5:47 remaining.

California coach Ben Braun likened the victory to the San Francisco 49ers' last-second win over the Green Bay Packers in the NFL playoffs Sunday. The 49ers won the wild-card game on a touchdown catch by Terrell Owens, who redeemed himself after dropping four passes and fumbling earlier in the game.

"I told our team, lets learn from the 49ers," Braun said. "Our inside players were kind of like Terrell Owens."