Cal Drops Road Clash At Arizona State

TEMPE, Ariz. – A cold shooting performance in the second half by the California men’s basketball team led to a 71-44 road loss against Arizona State on Thursday at the Desert Financial Arena.

The Golden Bears shot 30.5 percent from the field and just 25.8 percent over the final 20 minutes as Arizona State pulled away in the second half for its sixth win in the past seven games. Cal dropped to 12-18 overall and 5-14 in Pac-12 play.

With Cal trailing by 12 with less than three minutes remaining in the first half, Grant Anticevich knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 31-25 at the intermission. Anticevich finished with eight points and a team-high six rebounds.

ASU extended its lead back to double-digits by the 13:22 mark of the second half on a 3-pointer by Jay Heath. Another three consecutive 3-pointers by the Sun Devils (13-16, 9-10) made it a 57-33 deficit with 9:06 left in the contest.

"As well as we played last Saturday, we played the opposite defensively today," Cal head coach Mark Fox said. "We really collapsed on the defensive end in the second half."

Jalen Celestine scored a team-high 11 points, marking his seventh double-figure effort of the season and third in the past four games.

UP NEXT

Cal closes the regular season against No. 2 Arizona at the McKale Center in Tucson on Saturday. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. PT and the contest will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.