When the UC Santa Barbara men's basketball team called a timeout with 4:54 remaining in the first half, it was already too late.

Moments before, Cal's Patrick Christopher had thrown down a dunk from a fast break assist courtesy of Jorge Gutierrez, putting the Bears up 41-19 on the Gauchos. Christopher finished with 25 points and the title of tournament MVP as Cal sailed to an 87-66 victory in the championship game of the Golden Bear Classic at Haas Pavilion.

"I think we're getting there. We're continuing to play good basketball," Christopher said. "I like this momentum coming into the Pac-10 (schedule)."

It was a fairly smooth road from the get-go for the Bears (8-4). Senior Jerome Randle, who rained down three-pointers on Tuesday night, lifted Cal to a 14-3 advantage early with a three-pointer that was launched nearly from half court. Randle was later fouled on another three point shot; both the basket and the ensuing free throw were good. He finished 6-of-8 from distance.

Randle wasn't the only Bear who saw his shots fall, however. Through much of the game, it seemed like Cal couldn't miss. They shot 60 percent in the first half against a UCSB squad that was holding its opponents to a 42.5 percent clip coming into the contest.

When the Bears fell into offensive lulls, though, the Gauchos made the most of the opportunities. UCSB (5-5) closed the first half on a 10-6 run, narrowing Cal's lead to 49-32 going into halftime. But with a thunderous two-handed dunk from Christopher on the opening possession of the second half, the Bears regained their momentum and maintained a comfortable lead for the remainder of the game.

"We were really good early. We sometimes lose our focus when we play well and get up. And that's one of the things we talked about is trying to sustain a certain level of excellence that we can rely on," coach Mike Montgomery said. "We tend to let them back in the game, but we didn't have the same level of intensity throughout. This is something we need to get better at. We're not always going to shoot the ball that well."

Cal's hot shooting brought the 9,000-plus in attendance to their feet, but its defense deserved a similar round of applause. After their victory over Utah Valley on Monday night, Mike Montgomery said the Bears would have to look out for the Gauchos' match-up zone defense. It didn't seem to give them too much trouble. UCSB came into the game averaging 35.4 rebounds per contest, but were out-muscled at the boards 45-25 by Cal.

Junior Markhuri Sanders-Frison had a lot to do with that. The 6-foot-7 center grabbed 10 rebounds and logged two blocks in 24 minutes.

"It was a great game for me. It helped my confidence," Sanders-Frison said. "Hopefully I just feed off that."

The Bears now have four days to prepare for their conference opener, a 4 p.m. tilt in Berkeley against Stanford on Jan. 2. The Cardinal wrapped up nonconference play with a record of 6-6.

Tags: CAL MEN'S BASKETBALL, PATRICK CHRISTOPHER, GOLDEN BEAR CLASSIC, MARKHURI SANDERS-FRISON, MIKE MONTGOMERY