Cal Survives Against UC Davis
It wasn’t pretty, but the Bears got the job done and got in the win column after going 0-for-2 in New York City. With about seven minutes to play, Cal was down 54-52 against the UC Davis Aggies. But Grant Anticevich made a mid-range jumper to tie the game at 54 and after about two minutes of no scoring, Paris Austin made one out of two free throws to give Cal a 55-54 lead. After a UC Davis missed jumper, Austin hit another jumper. And then Matt Bradley completed an and-one play to build the lead to 60-54, which Cal would carry to a 72-66 win.
“I thought that was a really good game for us,” Head Coach Mark Fox said. “We started well offensively, finished well, and I was overall pleased with how we started the game on both ends. In the second half, we played with the most dangerous thing that you can play against: good three-point shooting. Give UC Davis credit for making eight threes in the second half and storming back. In hindsight, I’m glad the game got to that point because it was important for us to play in a close game; we got more out of the finish of that game than we would have if we had kept a double-figure lead the whole time.”
It’s an odd spin for a coach who said his players were “immature” with the lead a couple weeks ago.
Regardless, the Bears continued their hot shooting from three at home going 8-of-15 (53.3%) from three. However, the majority of those hits came in the first half as the Bears went 3-of-8 in the second half. Bradley led the Bears in scoring once again, going 6-of-10 from the field including 3-of-5 from three. Kareem South rebounded from a tough road trip to New York, scoring 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field. Grant Anticevich scored 13 points while snagging 11 rebounds and Austin added 12 points to contribute to the Bears’ scoring.
Cal took an 11-point lead to halftime, but the Aggies battled back and regain the lead at 49-48 with 9:06 to go in the second half. Andre Kelly made back-to-back hook shots to push the Bears’ lead to 52-49 with 8:11 to go in the game, but Stefan Gonzalez of the Aggies made a three to tie the game at 52 with 7:47 to go. That is when Anticevich made the jumper to tie the game and spur the eventual game-winning run.
The Bears (now 5-and-2) are off for more than a week until they play San Francisco on Wednesday, December 4th.
“I think the lesson from the trip to New York was: whether you win the game or lose the game, you have to learn from the game,” Fox said. “Just like tonight, we have to learn from our performance. It’s important to do that if you’re going to keep growing.”