Cal Basketball: Makale Foreman's 3 at the Buzzer Lifts Bears Past USF

Makale Foreman was scoreless until the final second when he buried a buzzer-beater 3-point shot from deep on the left wing, lifting Cal to a 72-70 win over red-hot USF at Haas Pavilion on Sunday afternoon.

It was Cal’s only lead of the entire afternoon.

The Bears trailed by one point after USF’s Khalil Shabazz missed a 1-and-1 free throw with 8.8 seconds left.

Matt Bradley brought the ball upcourt, drew a double-team and swung it to the top of the key to Grant Anticevich, who found Foreman open to his left. Foreman, who made a school-record 104 three-pointers at Stony Brook last season, had missed all six of his shots of the afternoon.

But this moment was why Fox recruited him as a graduate transfer and Foreman buried the long 3-pointer just before the horn sounded.

Foreman's game-winning shot:

Don’t mind us just watching this on loop 🤩 pic.twitter.com/IwdyJOPfYH
— Cal Basketball (@CalMBBall) December 13, 2020

Cal coach Mark Fox in the video above and senior guard Makale Foreman, in the video at the top of the story, both describe the final sequence that led to Foreman's game-winning 3-point basket.

Another angle of Foreman's game-winner:

Send ‘em home @Makale_0 pic.twitter.com/ioRwf1Q518
— Cal Athletics (@CalAthletics) December 14, 2020

Cal (3-4) snapped a three-game losing streak and ended a three-game win streak by the Dons (5-3), who had won those past three by at least 25 points apiece.

The setback was a tough swallow for USF coach Todd Golden. "This was a disappointing outcome," he said. "I thought we played well enough to win, but not well enough to guarantee victory."

Cal's Andre Kelly scored a season-high 22 points to go with seven rebounds and Anticevich continued his recent strong play with 18 points and seven rebounds. Bradley, held to three points on 1-for-7 shooting in the first half, overcame second-half foul trouble to score 17.

Cal had lost to USF the past two seasons, and the Dons controlled things early. But the Bears never lost touch, began to exploit their inside advantage and beat a team that has won 20 games four years in a row.

You can tell how pleased Fox was with his team in his opening remarks here:

Senior guard Jamaree Bouyea scored a career-high 24 points for the Dons and Shabazz had 21.

Cal trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half and was down 37-29 at the break after Bouyea made a 55-foot shot to beat the halftime buzzer.

Anticevich and Kelly combined for 26 of the Bears’ 29 points in the half and shot 10-for-14 from the field. But the rest of the Bears were 1-for-15 and had just three points.

The strategy of taking the ball inside continued to pay dividends for the Bears.

While the 3-point shots weren't falling, Cal had an advantage in the paint. Anticevich, who was coming off a season-best 21 points, shot 7-for-12 from the field and added three assists, including one on the final play.

Kelly, a 6-foot-8, 255-pound junior, came off the bench to shoot 7-for-10 from the field. He also continually drew fouls from USF defenders unable to deal with his size and strength, making 8 of his 13 free throw attempts.

Fox said Kelly and Cal's other big men were affected by the offseason shutdown because of COVID-19 and gained weight over the summer. Kelly is just now starting to play himself into game shape again, as Fox explains in the video below.

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo

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