END-OF-BENCH SUBS WAKE UP CAL CROWD  3/5/94

By BOB BURNS
McClatchy News Service

OAKLAND -- Lamond Murray broke Cal's single-season scoring 
record. Jason Kidd added intestinal fortitude to his growing 
list of attributes. Michael Stewart collected 15 rebounds. 
Monty Buckley had 16 points and nine rebounds.

But let us now praise Dan Gura and Olatunji Dean, because if 
it weren't for those crowd-pleasing scrubs, 15,039 
spectators might still be sound asleep in their seats, noses 
plugged.

There certainly wasn't much else to get worked up about 
Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum Arena, where No. 20 
California trampled Oregon State 74-44 on its way to the 
NCAA Tournament.

In addition to being Cal's last home game of the season, 
Saturday possibly marked the passing of a brief era in Bay 
Area college basketball history.

Kidd and Murray might head for the NBA following this 
season, and the crowd -- as it did two nights before at 
Harmon Gym on the Berkeley campus -- screamed for them to 
stay another year.

But if Murray or Kidd were overcome by the moment, they hid 
their emotions well. Kidd had a good excuse, feeling a bit 
under the weather after missing the first five minutes with 
stomach trouble. Murray had an even better excuse. He saw 
the whole thing.

''It felt like a preseason scrimmage,'' Murray said.

Oregon State missed 19 of its first 20 shots. Cal led 37-10 
at halftime, at which juncture the Beavers had as many 
turnovers as points. Check out these first-half numbers: 4 
of 32 from the floor, 2 of 5 from the line, 0 of 12
from three-point range.

The Bears (21-6 overall, 12-4 Pacific-10 Conference) had 
squandered substantial second-half leads in their previous 
three games, but there was no danger of that against Oregon 
State (6-19, 2-14).

''We wanted to make sure we didn't let them back in the 
ballgame,'' Cal coach Todd Bozeman said. ''We're playing for 
a much bigger prize than the present game. Win or lose, 
we're trying to prepare ourselves for postseason play.''

Murray's 18 points gave him 651 for the season, two more 
than the previous record set by Leonard Taylor in 1988-89. 
The 6-foot-7 forward from nearby Fremont downplayed his 
achievement.

''When my season's over I can be thankful for it,'' Murray 
said. ''But my season's not over yet.''

The score was 2-2 when Kidd left the locker room and joined 
his teammates on the floor four minutes into the game. His 
presence sparked a 29-4 run in which Buckley scored 10 
points.

In the meantime, the Beavers were wishing Dr. Naismith had 
built a bigger peach basket.

''The shooting was so horrible, it took us out of the game 
very early,'' OSU coach Jim Anderson said.

Said Oregon State forward Brent Barry: ''I felt bad having 
to watch some of that trash.''

Kidd played only 15 minutes, asking to come out early in the 
second half.  Murray took a seat shortly after breaking 
Taylor's record with a soft jump hook.

Bozeman cleared his bench in the closing minutes. Gura, a 
walk-on freshman from Santa Monica, scored five points and 
two no-look passes that brought the previously bored crowd 
to its feet.

As Gura and Dean were high-fiving in the closing seconds, 
the fans began chanting, ''One more year! One more year!''

Murray insisted he never even heard them. Kidd smiled.

''They were probably talking about Gura,'' he said.