Cal Completes Season Sweep of Washington State
It took all season, but Cal’s men’s hoops team got its first win of the season away from Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, beating the Washington State Cougars 66-57 in Pullman. The Bears sure didn’t look like a team that had yet to win on the road. Cal (11-15, 5-8) led Washington State (14-13, 5-9) the entirety of the game and despite a few runs, the Cougars never got closer than six points after Cal jumped out to an 8-2 lead about four minutes into the game.
The Bears were led by senior point guard Paris Austin, who poured in 19 points on 12-of-12 shooting from the free-throw line. Sophomore forward added 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field. And despite an off night, Cal’s leading scorer Matt Bradley added 11 points and eight rebounds. Bradley struggled from the field, going 2-of-9, but like Austin, was perfect from the free-throw line going 6-of-6.
Cal turned the ball over a few more times than the Cougars (13-10) and was out-rebounded 33-35, including being out-rebounded 6-13 on the offensive glass. But Washington State, which ranks 311th in the country in eFG% struggled to make anything from the field. The Cougars shot 29.8% (17-of-57) from the field, including 21.7% (5-of-23) from the three-point line while the Bears went 43.5% (40-of-36) from the field, including 35.7% (5-of-14) from three.
The Bears’ road woes this season have largely been due to offensive problems. And while the Bears didn’t exactly light up the nets tonight, they jumped out to a lead and hit shots when needed to build and hold onto the lead. Austin and junior forward Grant Anticevich got things going for the Bears with two quick threes building the 8-2 lead four minutes into the game. The Bears then used a 13-3 run lasting just under five minutes to push the lead into double-digits. Cal expanded the lead to 17 points on two different occasions in the first half. Wazzu used a 7-2 run over the final 5:14 of the first half to bring the score back to 32-20 at the break.
The Cougars came out of the half strong, scoring four points in 34 seconds to bring the score to 32-24 in favor of the Bears. Jervae Robinson then knocked down a three after an offensive rebound to bring the score to 34-27 with 17:28 to play in the game, capping a 14-4 Wazzu run that spanned both halves. Fox immediately called a timeout and the Bears responded with a 14-4 run over the next six minutes to push the score back to 48-31.
Wazzu used an 8-0 run over the next three minutes to bring the score back to 48-39. Cal went about six minutes without a field goal but made six free throws during that time The Cougars' own offensive struggles kept them from getting any closer than nine points until a mini 6-0 run brought the score to 58-52 in favor of Cal with 2:44 to play. With 2:27 to play, Bradley traveled giving the ball back to Wazzu. But Wazzu’s leading scorer C. J. Elleby lost control of the ball, Cal’s Kareem South picked it up and found Kelly, who made a layup, pushing the score to 60-52 with 1:58 to play.
The Cougars got within six points two more times but Austin made all six of his free-throws over the final minute to ice the game.
Cal returns to action on Saturday in Seattle against the Washington Huskies. Washington is currently last in the Pac-12 with a league record of 2-11. If the Bears can pull off the win in Seattle, they will go 4-0 against the Washington schools.