Cal Rolls Stanford, Advances to Pac-12 Tournament Quarterfinals

Senior guard Paris Austin and sophomore wing Matt Bradley each poured in 18 points and Cal rolled Stanford, 63-51 in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas. It was all Cal from the get-go as the Bears jumped out to a 7-0 lead. Almost three minutes went by before the Cardinal scored and Stanford never led during the game.

Stanford tied the game at 17 with 5:22 to play in the first half after Daejon Davis made a three for the Cardinal. But Cal countered with an 11-1 run over the next three and a half minutes. The Bears took a 10-point lead into the break and held Stanford to just 20 points in the first half. Stanford closed the gap to six, 43-37, with 11:10 to go in the game after another Davis score. But Cal again countered with a 10-2 run over the next four minutes that essentially put the game away.

Austin continued his strong play, scoring his 18 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and 8-of-9 from the free-throw line. Austin led the team with three assists and also grabbed six rebounds in 30 minutes of play. Bradley had a less-efficient 18 points, going 7-of-18 from the floor. The sophomore wing also added six rebounds. Senior guard Kareem South was the other Cal player to hit double digits in scoring. South scored 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field.

Cal held Stanford leading scorer Oscar da Silva to just four points on 2-of-11 shooting. Davis led the Cardinal with 16 points, but it took 14 field goal attempts to get there as he went 5-of-14 from the field. Bryce Wills was the only other Stanford player to hit double digits in scoring, adding 10 points on 3-of-9 shooting. Overall, Stanford had a very bad shooting evening, going 17-of-53 (32.1%) from the field.

The Bears dominated in the paint, outscoring the Cardinal 30-22 and out-rebounding Stanford 36-25.

Cal will play UCLA at 6 p.m. tomorrow in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 conference. The conference announced today that fans would not be allowed to watch in the stadium amid coronavirus concerns. The NCAA also announced today that fans will not be allowed in the stadiums at all NCAA Tournament games this year.