EUGENE, Ore. – Matt Bradley scored a team-high 21 points in his return to play after missing the last two games with an injury, but California fell short in an 82-69 loss to No. 21 Oregon at Matthew Knight Arena on Thursday night.
Cal (5-5, 0-3 Pac-12) found itself within striking distance with just over five minutes to play, trailing 65-62, before faltering late. Makale Foreman tallied 14 points on four made 3-pointers while Andre Kelly and Lars Thiemann hauled in seven rebounds apiece.
Eugene Omoruyi led Oregon (7-1, 2-0 Pac-12) with a game-high 26 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Oregon started hot from the field, hitting seven of its first 11 attempts, but the Bears got two early 3-pointers from Bradley to pull within five points, 16-11, with 11:23 to go in the half. Cal closed the gap to three (25-22) on Bradley’s third triple with just over seven minutes to play in the first half.
Bradley kept it going and gave the Bears their first lead of the game at 27-26 on his fourth 3-pointer of the opening frame. Foreman knocked down a three of his own to extend the Bears’ run to 11-1 give Cal a 30-26 lead at the final media timeout of the half with 3:12 to play. Another deep shot from Foreman gave Cal a seven-point lead, before Oregon halted the 14-1 run and scored 10 of the final 12 points in the half. A 3-pointer just before the buzzer gave the Ducks a 36-35 advantage heading into the locker room.
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Bradley led Cal with 15 first half points and Omoruyi had 15 of his own in the first 20 minutes for Oregon.
The teams traded 6-0 runs early in the second half and the Ducks took a two-point lead into the first media timeout at 49-47. Cal went more than four minutes without its next field goal as Oregon built a five-point lead.
Cal narrowed its deficit to two points on a jumper from Bradley with 6:31 to play, but the Ducks scored nine of the next 11 to take a nine-point lead and the Bears weren’t able to get within range again down the stretch.
UP NEXT
Cal will face Oregon State for the second time this season at 3 p.m. PT on Saturday, Jan. 2 in Corvallis. The two teams met in the season opener on Nov. 25, with the Beavers taking a 71-63 decision in Corvallis. Saturday’s game will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
STAY POSTED
For complete coverage of Cal men’s basketball, please follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalMBBall), Instagram (@CalMBBball) and Facebook (/CalMBBall/).
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so you think giving Thorpe and Lars 31 minutes (and Kelly and Bentley 32 and 34 minutes) better than giving Grant 25-30 minutes?oskidunker said:
Antevich would have never gotten a decent look, aka Betley, and would have been killed on defense. I think we are better off with three guards and Thorpe and Bradley. But Thorpe has to stop fouling. We are quicker.
oskidunker said:
Antevich would have never gotten a decent look, aka Betley, and would have been killed on defense. I think we are better off with three guards and Thorpe and Bradley. But Thorpe has to stop fouling. We are quicker.
