LOS ANGELES (AP) – Four Golden Bears scored in double figures and the California men’s basketball team battled No. 15 USC to the finish before coming up short in a 79-72 loss at the Galen Center on Saturday.
Makale Foreman paced Cal with 13 points off the bench while Jordan Shepherd, Jalen Celestine and Andre Kelly scored 12 apiece. The Bears (9-12, 2-8 Pac-12) were 28-56 from the field, becoming the second team to hit 50 percent or better this season against USC, which entered the contest ranked sixth nationally in field-goal percentage defense.
Cal has lost seven in a row over a stretch that has included five games against top-15 opponents.
"Anytime you go on the road against a nationally-ranked team and shoot 50 percent from the field, 50 percent from the three, and you make more baskets than they did, you don't get outrebounded…we did a lot of good things, but we just didn’t close it,” Cal head coach Mark Fox said.
Cal made eight of its first 10 shots and held USC (18-3, 8-3) scoreless for 4.5 minutes to jump out to a 20-9 lead eight minutes into the game. The Bears were up 27-18 with 8:49 remaining on Celestine's 3-pointer before the Trojans went on a 21-4 run over the next seven minutes to grab a 39-31 advantage and eventually lead 41-35 at halftime.
USC extended its lead to eight with eight minutes remaining in the contest, but Cal was able to rally and get it within a possession at various points during the final five minutes. Isaiah Mobley, who led USC with a career-high 24 points, hit a jumper as the shot clock expired to put the Trojans up 74-69 with 1:06 left.
The Trojans went 21-28 from the free-throw line while Cal was 8-11. Cal was without Kelly for the final 11 minutes of the contest after he went down with an injury sustained just before throwing down a fast-break dunk that cut USC’s lead to 56-53.
The Bears are in the midst of playing five games in a 10-day span from Jan. 27 through Feb. 5.
UP NEXT
Cal opens a three-game week at Stanford at 7 p.m. Tuesday inside of Maples Pavilion. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.
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