Bears Pull it Together Late in 60-49 Win Over Nicholls State
It wasn’t always pretty but the Bears (2-1) did what they needed to do to pull away from a pesky Nicholls State (2-2) team late to come away with a 60-49 victory this evening at Haas Pavilion in their last tuneup and first game at Haas before league play opens Thursday vs. ASU.
Wing Matt Bradley put the team on his back with a 26-point, six rebound performance, going 3-for-5 from three.
Aside from Bradley, the team went just 12-37 from the field (32%) and an ugly 20 turnovers, of which Bradley was the culprit for a game-leading seven.
“I’d just like to say that it’s good to play a hard-fought game,” said Cal head coach Mark Fox. “And as strange as it sounds, it’s good to make mistakes. It’s what you need to grow and learn.
“I thought our defense was really good and gave us a chance to win. We sustained it through pretty much most of the night (except for a late flurry of three treys from Nicholls State that kept the game at least semi-competitive as the Bears were attempting to close it out.
“With the limited practice time we’ve had, the offense is going to take a while. And we were sloppy and didn’t finish some plays and turned it over too much. But let’s give Nichols some credit. They’ve had some good wins in the last year (21-10 in 2019-20, returning all five top scorers from last season) and I think they have a quality club.”
The Bears had a bit of a scare early, with frosh small forward Monty Bowser going down hard on his back after a putback bucket gave the Bears an 11-4 lead eight minutes into the game. Bowser left with assistance and was transported to the hospital for precautionary reasons. Fox believes he’s doing okay.
The Bears went into the locker room with a 23-18 lead at the half on the strength of a flurry of four early three’s, including a pair from transfer guard Makale Foreman, who went cold after the quick early start, finishing with six points on just 2-of-10 shooting.
As noted by Fox, the Bears played solid defense till the final minutes, denying the Colonels good looks and forcing 18 turnovers of their own. The Bears outrebounded Nicholls State by a slim 38-37 margin, with forward Andre Kelly leading the Bears with nine on the night.
Though the Bears aren’t ready for prime time by any means, they’ll need to get sharper in a hurry with a talented ASU squad coming to Berkeley Thursday followed by two more of the teams picked atop the Pac-12 conference this season in UCLA and Oregon.
“I think we start off with the top three,” said Fox. “Do I think we’re ready? No, we’re not. We’re going to have to overachieve. We had an eight or nine day shutdown that we’re still trying to overcome.
“Arizona State’s got a great team. Coach Hurley’s done a great job. So we’ll have to play great to give ourselves a chance.
“The thing we talk to with our team is, ‘Listen, you were off for a long time. Maybe it’s going to take some time to get back in synch offensively,’ but they’ll grind their way forward.”
F/C Grant Anticevich tallied 11 for the Bears, scoring all off his points in the field from behind the arc, going 3-for-6 from deep along with five rebounds on the night.
“I thought we played better today than we did the past two games,” said Anticevich. “We’re just looking forward to continue to build and break through that barrier each and every day and gradually get to the point where we want to get to as a team.”
Thursday night’s game will tip off at 7 pm at Haas Pavilion.
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