By Morris Phillips

Cal’s opponent looked strangely familiar on Wednesday night.

The attention to detail was apparent.  The baseline out-of-bounds plays were familiar and effective.  And the desire to beat a superiorly talented team on the road was recognizable as well.

Consequently, the Bears had their hands full Wednesday night with Coach Travis DeCuire and his Montana team.  Despite trailing by eight points twice in the second half, the Bears surged late in regulation and got past the Grizzlies, 78-76 in double overtime.

DeCuire served as Mike Montgomery’s associate head coach for the final two of six seasons the pair were in Berkeley.  DeCuire was a compelling recruiter, talented coach and the guy Montgomery campaigned for to replace him when he retired last spring.

But instead of choosing DeCuire, athletic director Sandy Barbour decided to give the post to Tennessee coach Cuonzo Martin.  DeCuire returned to his alma mater where he was the all-time assist leader during his playing career when head coach Wayne Tinkle took the Oregon State job.  In terms of intrigue, the schedule did the rest with only the second ever meeting between the two schools scheduled for Wednesday in Berkeley far before the coaching changes.

DeCuire talked about what was uncomfortable regarding his homecoming, stuff that undoubtedly got pushed to the back burner once the opening tip took place.

“It’s hard to not want guys to do well and you want them to no do well against you,” DeCuire explained.  “So it was very difficult coming in and preparing.  I would’ve rather not played these guys but at the end of the day it’s a game and when the ball goes up in the air you want to win.”

That desire was present in the Bears from the opening tip, but seemed to disappear after halftime.  A game that Cal led by six at the break, got a lot closer in a hurry as the Bears would commit 13 turnovers in the second half and overtime.  Montana opened the half with a 21-7 run and the ballgame would remain tight until its conclusion.  With the Grizzlies picked to finish fifth in 12-team Big Sky Conference, the Bears had to pull it together or suffer a loss that would no doubt affect their potential seeding come March.  According to Martin, it created a teaching moment for the young Bears, who had won five of six coming in with the only loss to No. 5 Texas.

“I love the big situations like this,” Martin said.  “Young men grow character from this.  I always tell the guys, ‘There is power in your path.’  In order to gain something, you have to go through something.  You have to go through something.”

And the Bears did, surviving the turnovers, the nip-and-tuck nature of the game, and the growing pains of freshman guard Brandon Chauca, who was inserted into the game in the first half and quickly displayed what Martin saw in the dimunitive guard during the recruiting process.