Cal's Gray out with broken foot

In an 89-87 loss to Washington State, Gray recorded a school-record 48 points before leaving the game in the final seconds with a foot injury.

The X-rays after the game revealed a broken bone in Gray's right foot, an injury that has Cal officials saying that he will be out for six weeks which means that the Golden Bears will be without Gray for the rest of the season barring an early recovery.

"He went up and tried to dunk," Cal coach Ben Braun said. "He came down and that's the play that injured him."

Gray scored 38 of Cal's 46 second half points, keeping the Golden Bears within striking distance. And with 11 seconds left, Gray left the floor just before WSU's Carlos Daniel hit a layup to win the game. Gray broke the team record of 47 points set by John Coughran in 1972.

"I've never seen a guy score so many points," said WSU guard Chris Crosby, who had the assignment of guarding Gray. "Everything he put up went in."

Gray is the top scorer in the conference and third in the nation at 24.8 points per game. The Golden Bears (19-7 overall, 10-5 in the Pac-10) still have a good chance of making the NCAA Tournament. But would probably have to make it to the Sweet 16 before Gray could return.

The Pacific 10 Conference was the recipient of some national recognition this weekend when then-No. 17 UCLA (17-7, 10-3) defeated then sixth-ranked Duke (22-6).

Prior to last Sunday, the conference ranked third in the Sagarin ratings. With UCLA defeating the Blue Devils and giving the conference some positive national recognition, especially among East coast voters, the conference has strengthened its argument for more teams in the NCAA Tournament.

Besides the Bruins, the Pac-10 has five teams which could find themselves in the field of 64 in the NCAA Tournament. Arizona, Southern Cal, Washington, Stanford and Cal all have legitimate chances of going to the Tournament

"A win for UCLA this Sunday would be a big one for our conference as a whole," UA head coach Lute Olson said last week.

The Bruins used their height advantage to grab 12 second-half offensive rebounds, which led to easy putbacks.

"We've known for a while that rebounding is a weakness for us," Duke guard Jeff Capel said. "Today that weakness was exposed."

As for UCLA, the win vaulted the Bruins from 17th to 10th in the nation in the Associated Press Poll.

Sunday's victory was the Bruins' fifth straight and first over a major non-conference opponent. They did it with balanced scoring, and a collective effort on perimeter defense and rebounding.

''UCLA is pretty good,'' Duke forward Ricky Price said. ''They're one of the top teams in the nation. They're very athletic.''

With four games remaining, UCLA is closing in on its third consecutive Pacific 10 Conference championship. The Bruins are 11-3 in the league, 1 1/2 games ahead of California (10-5). The Pac-10 is without a postseason tournament.

''This is the team that we knew we could be,'' guard Toby Bailey said. ''We still have some improvements to make, but we're getting closer and closer to our potential."

Bailey was recongnized for his efforts by the conference yesterday who named him co-player of the week along with Gray. Bailey scored 10 points, including a pair of free throws that clinched UCLA's victory. He had a season-high 24 points and seven rebounds in the Bruins' 82-60 win over Southern Cal.

The honor was the third this season for Gray and the first for Bailey.

"This was a big win for us," said Lavin who replaced Jim Harrick at the beginning of the season. "Now we need to concentrate on ending the season with a strong finish."

The Washington schools completed a successful homestand with Washington State defeating Cal and UW besting Stanford Saturday.

The Huskies (15-8, 8-6) improved their chances of receiving an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament with a 73-61 win over the 20th-ranked Cardinal (16-7, 9-6).

"This was a game that we needed," Washington head coach Bob Bender said. "We wanted to establish ourselves inside, and we were going to keep the floor spread and let (center Todd MacCulloch) work."

MacCulloch responded to the added responsibility by scoring 24 points and held Stanford center Tim Young to just six points. UW guard Jamie Booker shutdown Cardinal point guard Brevin Knight. Knight was held to six points on 3 of 16 shooting.

For the season the two average 31.8 points per game, forming the most potent one-two punch in the conference.