BERKELEY – Seniors Jack Deely and Miles O'Brien-Schridde each registered four points and junior Nikolaos Papanikolaou earned a hat trick but the No. 3 Cal men's water polo team fell to USC 12-11 on Sunday in the championship game of the MPSF Invitational at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Freshman Roberto Valera added a pair of goals for the Bears (13-1), who fell behind 12-9 with just over three minutes to play but staged a late comeback and had a chance to tie in the final minute.

The teams traded goals through the first three quarters before the Trojans reeled off three in a row to lead 11-8 with 3:45 left. After the teams traded goals, Deely converted on the power play with 2:39 left and Papanikolaou followed with his third of the game to make it 12-11 at the 2:13 mark of the fourth quarter. The Bears had a power play chance with 56 seconds left but couldn't capitalize, and then got the ball back one last time but Deely's shot in the final seconds was turned away by USC goalie Nic Porter.

Cal's road to the championship game of the 14-team tournament included Saturday night's 10-9 win over No. 1 UCLA. The Bears also defeated No. 18 Pomona Pitzer and No. 6 Long Beach State along the way.

Cal returns to action next weekend with road matches at No. 13 UC Irvine and No. 12 Pepperdine before getting a rematch at USC on Oct. 9.