University of California Athletics

BERKELEY (AP) – California whittled away at a 15-point halftime deficit before ultimately falling to Kansas State 63-54 in a men's basketball nonconference clash on Friday night in Haas Pavilion.
 
Kansas State's (2-0) Keyontae Johnson scored nine of his team-leading 16 points in the first half to help the visiting Wildcats take a commanding 36-21 lead into the intermission. The Golden Bears (0-2) climbed back with a 13-point run – fueled by 3-pointers from Devin Askew and Kuany Kuany, who led Cal with 17 and 13 points, respectively – and eventually worked it to a one-point contest, 47-46, on a layup by Sam Alajiki with 5:37 remaining in the game.
 
Marquis Nowell answered Alajiki's bucket with a pivotal four-point play and a layup in a 6-0 run to put the Wildcats in front from there.
 
"We dug too big of a hole in the first half," Cal head coach Mark Fox said. "We're playing a lot of young guys and they made some errors – and they're going to make some errors – but I was proud of how we competed. I'm disappointed that we didn't find that competitive nature earlier. We lost to a good team out of the Big 12 and we have a lot of respect for their program."
 
Cal led 12-11 early on Askew's basket-and-one with 13:12 left in the first half, but the Bears went more than 10 minutes without a field goal from that point before ND Okafor's layup at the 2:45-mark made it a 30-17 deficit.
 
Askew scored 11 of his 17 in the second half while Kuany added 10 of his career-high 13 after halftime. Joel Brown finished with six points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals in a team-high 35 minutes played. Freshman Grant Newell logged 26 minutes in his first career start and contributed four points, four rebounds and a pair of blocks.
 
Nae'Qwan Tomlin scored 11 for the Wildcats and Johnson had a game-high nine rebounds.
 
Cal fell to 1-7 all-time against K-State. The two schools last played each other in 2007.
 
UP NEXT
The Bears will travel south for their first road game of the season at UC San Diego on Tuesday, Nov. 15. Tipoff from LionTree Arena in La Jolla is scheduled for 7 p.m. PT and the contest will be televised on ESPN+.

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