LA JOLLA, Calif. – The California men's basketball team could not pull off a second-half rally and dropped a 64-62 nonconference road game against UC San Diego on Tuesday night at LionTree Arena.
 
After facing a 10-point halftime deficit, Cal (0-3) made a late push for the second consecutive game but could never grab the lead down the stretch. Devin Askew finished with a team-high 13 points while Grant Newell (12), Kuany Kuany (11) and Lars Thiemann (10) added double-figure scoring efforts.
 
A 3-pointer by UCSD's Bryce Pope – his fifth of the night – with 12 seconds left gave the Tritons (1-2) a 64-60 lead. After a UCSD timeout, Askew converted a layup to cut the deficit to two. The Golden Bears called timeout and fouled Jace Roquemore, who missed the front-end of a 1-and-1. Askew grabbed the rebound and was able to fire off a 3-point attempt, but missed the mark.
 
The Tritons shot 7-for-13 from 3-point range in the first half and led by as many as 18 points, 28-10, with 7:07 remaining before the intermission. Cal was able to score the final six points – all free throws – of the opening period to pull within 37-27 at halftime, but managed just six field goals (6-for-19, 31.6 percent) from the floor. Kuany scored nine of his 11 points while Newell added eight before halftime.
 
Consecutive layups by Joel Brown with 2:14 left and 58 seconds left to go brought Cal within one point both times, 59-58 and 61-60.
 
Cal finished 21-of-24 at the charity stripe, knocking down its most free throws in a single game since making 26-of-33 against Utah on Feb. 29, 2020. Newell was a perfect 6-of-6 and was one of three Bears who made six free throws, along with Kuany and Thiemann.
 
Pope led UCSD with 19 points while Emmanuel Tshimanga scored 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting off the bench and Roquemore scored 11.
 
UP NEXT
Cal will be back in action Friday when it hosts Southern University in Berkeley. The contest will tip off at 6 p.m. PT and will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
 
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