Bears Swept at Home, Fall to Utah, 60-58
HAAS PAVILION -In a repeat of Thursday night’s home loss to Colorado, the Bears got off to a good start, taking a 5-point 11-6 lead six minutes into Saturday’s contest against Utah but an 11-0 Ute run put the good start quickly in the rear view mirrow, as Utah maintained their lead the rest of the game with a 60-58 win in Berkeley Saturday afternoon.
“At the end of the night we’ll look back and realize the consequences of some little mistakes throughout the game were great,” Cal head coach Mark Fox said. “We had some little mistakes that you look back (at) that were just back-breaking in a two-point loss.”
The Bears mde a game of it late, pulling to within two on a pair of Kuany Kuany free throws with 20 seconds remaining but could not complete the comeback after Utes guard Lazar Stefanik sunk a pair of free throws to push the margin back to four. A quick Jalen Celestine trey narrowed the lead to a single point but the Bears couldn't get any closer as a last ditch Shepherd midcourt heave missed wide.
The Bears were led by an impressive showing by center Lars Theimann, who continues to improve with extended play in the absence of team leader Andre Kelly. Theimann totalled 16 points with 8 rebounds. Utah was led by guard Marco Anthony with 16.
After pulling off a surprising road sweep in Oregon last week, the Bears hoped to make a strong push into the Pac-12 tournament with their schedule shifting into more favorable territory. The Utes entered the contest at just 3-13 before completing their season sweep of the Bears. Being swept at home, with their final week’s road trip to Arizona looming quickly ahead, dashed their hopes to finish the season on an extended high note after their excruitiating 10-game loss streak in one of their most difficult stretches of scheduling in recent memory put them in a major hole.
The Bears fell to 11-17 (4-13) after the defeat. They next square off vs. Stanford at 5:30 in Haas Pavilion next weekend before wrapping up the season in the desert.