BERKELEY – California used tough defense and a big day off the bench from sophomore
Andre Kelly to hold off Oregon State 69-67 Saturday afternoon at Haas Pavilion.
Kelly scored 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor, pulled down six rebounds and recorded a big block on the final possession to secure the win.
Sophomore
Matt Bradley tallied his second straight game with more than 20 points, tallying a game-high 23 points, while senior
Paris Austin added 11 for the Bears.
California improves to 10-11 overall and evens its conference record at 4-4, while Oregon State falls to 13-9 overall and 3-7 in Pac-12 play.
The Bears held OSU to just 37 percent (19-of-52) shooting on the afternoon and Cal scored 36 points in the paint, compared to just 20 for Oregon State.
Summary: With Cal holding on to a one-point lead at 68-67, Oregon State had a chance to take the lead, but Kelly came up big with a blocked layup attempt of Thompson. Bradley made a free throw at the other end and Oregon State was unable to get off another shot in the final three seconds.
Trailing 64-63 at the final media timeout with 3:36 left in the game, Austin hit a free throw and following two OSU misses at the other end a Kelly layup gave Cal a 66-64 lead, forcing a Beaver timeout with 2:06 left.
Cal extended the lead to 61-57 with 5:40 remaining, holding Oregon State scoreless from the field for more than three minutes.
Andre Kelly made back-to-back layups to give California a 51-48 lead with 11:30 to go in the game, making his first four attempts from the field.
Oregon State took a five-point lead at 41-36 after a 3-pointer from Reichle, but Bradley scored the next five points of the game for Cal to even the score with 15:28 left in the game.
The Bears went scoreless from the field for more than four minutes to end the half, allowing the Beavers to go on an 8-0 run and take their first lead of the game at 32-20 as the teams went to the locker room.
Cal made it a 20-15 advantage with 10:03 to go in the first as Oregon State started just 5-of-15 (33 percent) from the field. The Bears got out to an early 11-8 lead at the first media timeout of the game behind five quick points from Bradley.
Up Next: California travels to Boulder for a 5 p.m. tipoff against Colorado on Thursday, Feb. 6. The game will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Networks.