BERKELEY – Devin Askew had a career-high 19 points while also adding four assists and three rebounds in his Cal debut but the Golden Bear men's basketball team fell to UC Davis 75-65 in its 2022-23 season-opener on Monday evening at Haas Pavilion.
 
Center Lars Thiemann also had a career-best 17 points while also grabbing eight rebounds for Cal, which led 60-54 midway through the second half but couldn't close it out.
 
"We took the lead, and we have to learn how to play with the lead," Thiemann said. "We got sped up and didn't take the right shots."
 
The Bears held an early 10-6 lead but the Aggies came back to establish a double-digit advantage midway through the first half before Cal trimmed the deficit to 41-36 at the break. The Bears still trailed 51-43 early in the second half before going on an 8-0 run – fueled by six points from Askew – to knot the score with 12:10 to play. Freshman Grant Newell then scored six of the next nine points – with Kuany Kuany pitching in a 3-pointer of his own – and Cal led 60-54 with 10:07 remaining.
 
But UC Davis proceeded to put the clamps down defensively, holding the Bears scoreless for over seven minutes and surging out to a 71-63 lead with 2:13 to play.
 
"When we came back and took the lead, we just had a couple awful possessions that led to baskets for (UC Davis), and we never recovered," Cal head coach Mark Fox said. "I'm disappointed in how we defended in the second half, and I thought offensively our inexperience really showed in the second half."
 
Kuany finished with 10 points for the Bears.
 
UP NEXT
Cal hosts Kansas State at 4 p.m. PT on Friday, Nov. 11 at Haas Pavilion. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
 
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