I think most of Cal;s carpentry occurred in the first half. Cal only scored18 points in the second half? Cal must have laid down their hammers and instead only used putty blades in the game's latter half.
Photo by Twitter / Cal Basketball
Cal Basketball
Bears Hammer Cardinal on Senior Night 53-39
A student section overflowing their capacity by numbers not seen in years and VIP guests like Jason Kidd, Cal’s career scoring leader Jerome Randle, Sean Lampley and many from the 2010 Pac-12 winning Cal team were treated to a senior night romp over rival Stanford, as the Bears put the hurt on a faltering Stanford team to the tune of 53-39 in a game that was even less competitive than the final score indicated.
“Those players, they were great here and they deserve the kind of effort our team and our crowd gave the program tonight,” said Cal head coach Mark Fox. “It was awesome to have them back.”
The Bears wasted no time in putting their stamp on the game, bursting out of the gates to a 23-4 lead over the Cardinal. Senior guard Jordan Shepherd took over the game from the opening whistle scoring 10 of the Bears’ first 16 points, finishing the night with a stellar line of 28 points on 11-of-16 from the floor and 4-of-7 from deep along with three rebounds, one block, one steal and just one turnover, scoring on a dazzling array of Curryesque shots from the field.
So great was the Bears opening half dominance that their smothering defense held Stanford to just nine points till they finally hit double digits with just 2:48 remaining in the half. The Bears took an impressive 35-12 lead into the locker room at the break.
“We felt like our defense was terrific to start the game and we were able to sustain that,” said Fox. “Offensively, I thought we got the shots we were looking for. It’s a terrific win; great environment, terrific fans and a super energy in the building. It was really good for our seniors to finish their home careers this way.”
Senior forward Grant Anticevich played in his 136th career game, surpassing David Kravish (2012-15) for the most games played at Cal. Anticevich had eight rebounds to go with five points with his parents in the stands all the way from Australia.
“It’s huge,” said Anticevich. “It’s really special to beat our rival in a pretty convincing win and have the whole team play so well and have a great crowd.
“I absolutely love my teammates. Shep had an amazing game and everyone contributed and to do it in my last game at Haas is really something special.”
“My family was here so there was a lot of emotion before the game,” said Shepherd. ‘I wanted to play well, but more important, I just wanted to win and the good man above blessed us to be able to do that.”
Cal was scoreless for nearly eight minutes in the second half, allowing Stanford to pull to 42-27 before Shepherd's 3-pointer with 7:02 remaining ended the drought. Shepherd later hit a turn-around jumper from the corner, beating the shot clock to stretch the Bears' lead to 19 with 4:33 left that essentially put the game away.
Spencer Jones scored 10 points to lead Stanford, which entered having won six of the last eight regular season games in the series.
Cal will next travel to face Arizona State (5 p.m. PT, March 3) and Arizona (2 p.m. PT, March 5) to wrap up the regular season. Both games will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
Related:
Stanford Preview: Losses Last Weekend Hurt NCAA Hopes
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