Cal Drops Home Contest To Oregon

BERKELEY (AP) – N'Faly Dante had 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds, Will Richardson added 11 points and 10 assists and Oregon beat California 87-58 on Wednesday night in Haas Pavilion.

Rivaldo Soares led Oregon (11-8, 5-3 Pac-12) with 13 points and Keeshawn Barthelemy scored 10.

ND Okafor and Sam Alajiki made layups 31 seconds apart to give the Golden Bears a 10-5 lead about five minutes into the game but Dante made back-to-back baskets, Barthelemy added a layup and Richardson scored the final four points in a 10-0 run that gave Oregon the lead for good. Quincy Guerrier made a layup and then converted a three-point play to cap a string of 11 straight Oregon points and make it 30-17 with three minutes to go before halftime.

Oregon shot a season-high 59.6% (31 of 52) from the field and hit nine 3-pointers. The Ducks’ 87 points were a season-high surrendered by Cal, which lost its third straight game dating back to last Wednesday.

Alajiki made a layup to open the scoring in the second half and cut Cal's deficit to 11 points but the Bears went scoreless for the next nearly-four minutes and Oregon scored the first 11 points in a 16-3 run that culminated when Jermaine Couisnard hit a 3-pointer to make it 50-26 with 14:45 remaining.

The Bears won the lone meeting between the teams last season, 78-64, to snap a nine-game losing streak in the series.

Okafor led Cal (3-16, 2-6) with 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting. The rest of the Golden Bears made just 17 of 50 from the field.

Cal was without leading scorer Devin Askew (16.1 points per game) for the fifth consecutive game due to injury.

UP NEXT

The Bears wrap up their week at home against Oregon State on Sunday, Jan. 22. Tipoff is slated for noon PST on the Pac-12 Network.