Cal Rallies Past Scrappy Utah Tech, 79-73

Nojus Indrusaitis and Michael Cooper each score 21 points and the Bears improve to 3-2

Cal point guard TT Carr directs traffic | Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

Trailing by 11 points with barely 9 minutes left, the Cal men’s basketball team rallied for a 79-73 victory over Utah Tech on Saturday afternoon at Haas Pavilion.

Guards Nojus Indrusaitis and Michael Cooper each scored 21 points as the Bears improved to 3-2 following defeats to top-25 foes Houston and USC.

The Trailblazers (1-3) led by as many as 11 points in the first half and took a 41-32 lead into the break.

“Utah Tech came out and punched us in the mouth, had us on our heels,” Cal coach Mark Madsen said. "They did an outstanding job. They forced us into mistakes with pace of play, their physicality.

“I was proud of our guys for responding in the second half to find a way to get a win against a very scrappy team.”

The Bears still faced a 67-56 deficit with 9:19 left after a layup off a turnover by Utah Tech’s Owen Mackay.

Cal outscored the visitors 23-6 the rest of the way, with Indrusaitis contributing six points, Cooper and Mantas Kocanas five each and TT Carr four.

Cal returns to action Thursday at home against East Texas A&M, which is 2-1 with victories over Oklahoma and Rice. The win at Oklahoma was the Lions’ first over an SEC team.

The Bears outrebounded the Thunderbirds 39-35 and forged an 18-11 advantage in second-chance points off their 20 offensive rebounds.

Cal shot just 43.6 percent from the field and connected on only 5 of 22 attempts from the 3-point arc. The Bears have concerted only 25.5 percent from deep over the past three games after making 48.3 percent in their first two games.

Cal played its fifth straight game without injured senior center Lee Dort, the team’s lone returning starter.

Freshman Christian Gibson, who entered the game averaging 19 points, scored 22 for the Thunderbirds, who shot 51.7 percent but coughed up 14 turnovers, leading to 19 Cal points.

NOTES: Utah Tech’s previous games include a 40-point loss at New Mexico and a 32-point defeat at Utah State, along with a 103-52 win over Grace University, a first-year program from a fledgling California school with an enrollment of 100 . . . Utah Tech is located in the southern Utah town of St. George, 40 miles from Zion National Park.

Follow Jeff Faraudo on Twitter, Facebook and Bluesky