Cal Loses by 19 at Santa Clara

Cal’s offensive struggles away from Haas Pavilion continued Saturday as the Bears lost 71-52 to Santa Clara at the Leavey Center.  The Bears (5-4) forced 20 turnovers, stole the ball 10 times, but also shot 28.6 percent from the field, including 23 percent from three. 

The Bears led for just 36 seconds as the Broncos (9-2) dominated  In the first half. Cal made nine field goals but also committed nine turnovers. The Bears finished the game with 17 turnovers  — more than an already high season average of about 14 turnovers per game.

Early on, Cal couldn’t find an answer to forward Guglielmo Caruso who had 13 points and seven rebounds, including three offensive boards, in 15 minutes during the first half. Caruso had a quiet second half but led all scorers with 16 points while grabbing 12 rebounds. Matt Bradley led the Bears with 14 points, but hit just four of his 15 field-goal tries and missed all four of his three-point attempts.  

The Bears kept it close for much of the first half and took the lead 16-15 on a Juhwan Harris-Dyson free-throw. Caruso then scored four straight points and the Broncos regained the lead 19-16 with 8:45 to go. Grant Anticevich hit a jumper in the paint to bring the Bears back within one point before Caruso made another shot at the other end. After a couple of missed shots from Paris Austin, Santa Clara’s Trey Wertz hit a three to push the lead to 24-18 with 7:27 to play.

Bradley drew a foul on the ensuing possession and hit both free-throws to bring the Bears within four with 6:22 to go in the half. But the Broncos used a 15-2 run over the next three-and-a-half minutes to build 17 point lead.  Cal closed the lead on a 6-1 run to bring the game within a dozen points at halftime.

Cal went 2-for-7 from three in the first half while the Broncos went 4-of-8. Coming into the game, Cal was a top-ten three-point shooting team, averaging 41.6 percent. Santa Clara was shooting 29.8 percent (277th) in the country). Cal ended the game going 3-of-13 from three while Santa Clara finished at 8-of-17.

The Bears made a run early in the second half and got within eight points after a couple of Kareem South free-throws with about 15 minutes to go. However, Santa Clara countered with a 10-2 run, stretching the lead back to 16. The Broncos pushed the lead to 18 with about nine minutes to go. Santa Clara didn’t score a field goal for about six minutes, and the Bears were able to close the lead to 12 when Bradley made a driving layup, drawing a bunch of contact. A foul wasn’t called and Bradley expressed his displeasure and was called for a technical, effectively killing any momentum the Bears had built. It was the Bears’ last free-throw of the game.

Cal is off until Wednesday when it plays Fresno State at home.