Cal Falls to #5 UCLA, 60-52

The Bears controlled the tempo and limited the high-flying Bruins’ scoring opportunties but senior forward Andre Kelly's stellar 22-point (11-for-14) game wasn’t enough for Cal as the Bears fell to UCLA 60-52.

Coming into this weekend’s matchups against a pair of Top 10 teams in USC and UCLA (combined 21-1) with their best record in four seasons at 9-5 (2-1), the Bears knew they’d have their hands full but though they played competitively in both, ultimately fell to 9-7 (2-3) on the season.

"There’s no shame in laying it out there against the best teams and falling short,” said Cal ehad coach Mark Fox. “It doesn’t mean that you’re a failure. We failed today, but these kids competed in a way that I was really pleased with.

“I thought we did a lot of things to give us a chance (to win) throughout the game but against the best, you have to be a little better than we were tonight.”

The Bears managed to hold the #5 Bruins to 22 under their season scoring average of 82 but were undermined by a wretched 6-for-31 shooting performance by starters Grant Anticevich (1-11), Jordan Shepherd (4-14) and Jalen Celestine (1-6) in the defeat.

The first half saw the Bears go toe to toe with the Bruins, taking a 3-point, 19-16 lead with 6:57 left in the half on a an Obinna Anyanwu layup. From that point on however, the Bruins had the upper hand, going on a 13-2 run before forward Andre Kelly scored on back-to-back possessions, going 5-for-5 in the half. The Bruins took a 31-25 lead into the locker room.

Whether due to UCLA’s increased pressure on defense or sloppy ball handling, Cal’s four turovers in the last five minutes of the half and another several to start the second half saw the Bruins begin to pull away after the Bears scored the first two buckets of the second half on a Kelly jumper and a steal and layup by guard Jordan Shepherd. A David Singleton jumper extended the Bruins lead to 10 with 11 minutes left in the game.

The Bears tried to inject some life into ther offense with back-to-back jams by center Kuany Kuany and Kelly but were unable to put any kind of rally together till late in the game, scoring a pair of back to back buckets Kelly and Shepherd after Bruin point guard Tyger Campbell stretched the Bruin lead to 13 after hitting a wide-open 3. Campbell was a thorn in the Bears’ side all game, scoring 17 points on 7-10 from the floor along with four assists.

The Bears made a bit of a late run forcing several turnovers and converting on offensive end but were never able to get the deficit behind the final 8-point margin in the loss.

Related:

Trojans Pull Away from Bears in Second Half

USC, UCLA Start a Tough Stretch for Bears