Cal Outlasts Santa Clara, 78-66

Berkeley, CA-- After a turnover-filled start from both teams, the Bears ran out to a 14-0 lead in the games first seven and a half minutes, which was aided by eight turnovers by the Santa Clara Broncos. It was not until the eight-minute mark that Santa Clara finally got on the scoreboard with a layup from Josip Vrankic.

Santa Clara eventually settled down after the 14-0 start and weathered the storm to finish the half down by 12, 31-19. Their leading scorer was Tahj Eaddy who had 8 points on 3-7 shooting. (0-2 from three) The Broncos often looked out matched physically. 

The leading scorer for the Bears in the first half was Andre kelly with 8 points to go along with two rebounds. As a team, they shot 1-6 from 3-point range and 13-28 from the field. (46.4) Cal’s defense was causing havoc with its switching on dribbling handoffs on its way to forcing 14 turnovers.

The start of the second half was a much cleaner one. The Broncos went on a run of their own and kept it close cutting the lead to just one, 52-53 with 7:06 left in the game. That was as close as they got, as the Bears went on a 25-13 run to finish the game. Harris-Dyson had a new career high after dropping 15 points on 7-8 shooting, to go along with four steals. Cal finished the game shooting 29-54 (53.7%) and 3-12 (25%) from downtown.

Santa Clara was led by true Freshman Trey Wertz who finished the night with 16 points on 6-10 shooting, but he struggled to control the ball, racking up a team-high eight turnovers.

Cal led start to finish, winning the game 78-66. With the win, Cal goes to 2-3 with their next game coming against St.Marys (3-3) on December 1st. With the loss, Santa Clara falls to 1-5.