Cal Basketball: Golden Bears Make Enough Plays at the Finish to beat Fresno, 69-63
When the game was on the line Wednesday night at Haas Pavilion, Cal made winning plays. Fresno State came apart.
The Bears (6-4) held the Bulldogs (2-7) scoreless from 3:38 until just 20 seconds remained in the game, extending a 59-58 lead to 66-58 on the way to a 69-63 victory that kept their home record perfect at 6-0.
Cal was coming off double-digit defeats last week to Bay Area rivals USF and Santa Clara, both on the road.
"We were disappointed in how we played over the weekend, and we practiced hard for a couple days," coach Mark Fox. "We showed some progress tonight in several areas and we obviously leave with a win that we're really pleased with."
Cal iced the game by making 8 of 10 free throws over the final 2:48.
"Outside of one foul on an out-of-bounds play, I thought we managed the last part of the game very much like we wanted to," Fox said. "We didn't make all our free throws but we made a lot of them. So it was good experience for us."
Matt Bradley just missed his career high, scoring 24 points. Kareem South added 27 and Andre Kelly scored 10.
"I think we had a great week of practice leading up to Fresno State," Bradley said. "We really locked in on what we needed to do to win and I believed it showed."
In particular, Bradley said after the 19-point loss at Santa Clara that he was unhappy with his level of play. In games against USF and SCU, the Bears' top scorer shot a combined 8-for-25 from the field, 1-for-7 on threes and averaged just 12.5 points.
He entered last week having scored at least 16 points in six of Cal's first seven games. Tonight was his fourth 20-point effort of the season.
"Matt had a bad week last week, a tough week," Fox says in the video below. But Fox liked the way Bradley responded in practice and on game night.
Cal shot 48 percent to 39 percent for the visitors.
The Bears prevailed despite being out-rebounded 38-28 and allowing 15 offensive rebounds, which Fresno cashed in for 15 points. Cal scored just four second-chance points.
Cal played a fairly clean game, with just 6 turnovers and a solid 15-for-18 effort at the foul line.
New Williams scored 21 points to lead the Bulldogs.
Cal returns to action Saturday with a much tougher home assignment against Saint Mary's. Tipoff is 7:30 p.m.
PRE-GAME: Cal has played four of its past five games away from Haas Pavilion, and the Bears (5-4) lost all four of those.
They are back home tonight against Fresno State (2-6), hoping friendly territory will help get them back on track.
Cal began the season 4-0, all at home, then trekked to New York City's Madison Square Garden for two challenging against Duke and Texas. After two decisive losses, the Bears returned home and beat UC Davis.
But last week sent them on the road again - albeit in the Bay Area - and they absorbed double-digit losses to USF and Santa Clara.
Unbeaten at Haas, Cal is averaging 74.8 points in its five home games. But outside the Berkeley city limits the Bears are 0-4 and averaging 53.3 points.
This is the fourth game in a stretch of 10 all played on Bay Area turf. Cal is at home Saturday night against Saint Mary's, played Boston College at San Francisco's Chase Center on Dec. 21. then faces Harvard at home on Dec. 29.
The Bears open the Pac-12 Conference schedule on Jan. 2 at Stanford, then play the Washington schools at home the following weekend.
CAL STARTING LINEUP: Coach Mark Fox will start the same five that opened at Santa Clara, with Paris Austin, Matt Bradley and Kareem South at the guards, Grant Anticevich at forward and Andre Kelly at center.
12:00 1st H: Cal led 9-3 early as the Bulldogs made just 1 of their first 8 shots. It was 11-4 after Matt Bradley scored on an aggressive drive to the basket. He has 7 points already. But Fresno is on a 6-0 run and Jarred Hyder is shooting an and-1 free throw after the timeout that could tie the score. Cal 11, Fresno State 10.
Biggest cheer of the night so far: The P.A. introduced the crowd to Cal star linebacker Evan Weaver, who is at the game and doing a TV guest shot. The fans cheered enthusiastically for Weaver, who on Tuesday was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.
5:45 1st H: The Bulldogs are in the midst of an 8-0 run that erased a 17-11 Cal lead. Fresno State is shooting poorly 6-for-19), but they have seven offensive rebounds. Fresno State 19, Cal 17.
HALFTIME: Cal 32, Fresno State 29. Kareem South has nine points, including Cal's only two free throws and the Bears go to the locker room with a lead. Matt Bradley scored seven points in the first 6 minutes but has not scored since. Cal is shooting 52 percent, compared to 36 percent for the Bulldogs. But Fresno has a 17-14 rebounding edge, including seven offensive boards. Guard Mustafa Lawrence came off the bench to score a game-high 12 points for Fresno.
18:42 2nd H: Mark Fox calls timeout to not-so-calmly ask his players how Fresno State just got two long offensive rebounds off missed 3-pointers. Freshman Orlando Robinson corralled the second of them and dropped in a 3-pointer from the left corner. That's 9 offensive rebounds already for FSU (although just 7 second-chance points). Rebounding is going to be an issue for this team all season. Fresno State 35, Cal 34.
16:00 2nd H: Fresno State has pushed its offensive rebound total to 11. Total rebound margin now 24-15 in favor of the Bulldogs. Cal shooting 1-for-4 this half. Fresno State 39, Cal 36.
11:31 2nd H: Maybe there is hope for the Bears in this one. Bradley warming up a bit - just scored on a drive and free throw for an old-school three-point play, then hit a long standing 3-pointer and the Bears have regained the lead. Bradley has a game-high 15 points. Cal 44, Fresno State 43.
9:46 2nd H: Cal on a 14-5 run fueled by six points each from Bradley and South. South made back-to-back 3's before Juhwan Harris-Dyson scored on a transition layup and the Bears have their biggest lead. Cal 52, Fresno State 45.
7:16 2nd H: Bradley just hit his third 3-pointer of the night - he has 20 points - and Cal has matched its biggest lead. Bradley and South have combined for 35 points. The rest of the Bears have 22. Cal 57, Fresno State 50.
3:51 2nd H: Cal trying to hang on and stay unbeaten at home. It won't be easy. Bears pretty much incapable at this point of their development of extending a lead. And so the Bulldogs stay close. Cal 59, Fresno State 56.
1:14 2nd H: Andre Kelly scored on a putback off a missed free throw to give Cal a 61-58 lead with 2:48 left and the only scoring since then was a single free throw by Bradley. FSU's past two possessions: A missed 1-and-1 and a bad turnover on a pass out of bounds. Cal 62, Fresno State 58.
