Bears Falter In Second Half At Missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – Andrej Stojakovic scored a career-high 26 points but the California men’s basketball team squandered a 16-point halftime lead in a 98-93 loss at Missouri in an SEC/ACC Challenge contest on Tuesday night.

Four Golden Bears finished in double figures as Jeremiah Wilkinson added 19 points, Rytis Petraitis had 17 and Jovan Blacksher Jr. – making his return from a three-game absence due to injury – scored 13 along with a season-high five steals.

Cal (6-2) shot 50% (31 of 62) for the game, knocked down 10 3-pointers and made 21 of 25 at the line, but it was not enough to withstand a second-half barrage by the Tigers (7-1), who made 22-of-26 field goal attempts in the second half, including 14 in a row at one point.

Anthony Robinson II had a career-best 29 points while Mark Mitchell added 21 for Missouri.

Cal used a 17-0 run late in the first half to take a 51-35 lead into the intermission. Missouri erased that deficit quickly in the second half, taking the lead for good with 10:55 remaining. The Bears tied the game three times from then on, the last with 5 and a half minutes left.

Mitchell, harassed by three Bears in the paint, muscled through for a dunk and added another seconds later after a steal and assist from Tony Perkins for a 92-86 lead with 1:23 remaining. From there, Robinson made five free throws, two coming after a Cal player called a timeout the Bears didn't have.

Petraitis added five assists, three rebounds and three steals, while Stojakovic was 3 of 4 from 3-point range on the way to his fourth 20-point effort of the early season.

Cal was without BJ Omot and DJ Campbell for the fourth consecutive game while Missouri did not have leading scorer Caleb Grill.

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Cal will host Stanford on Saturday in the two rival program’s inaugural ACC contest. Tipoff is at 1 p.m. PT at Haas Pavilion.