BERKELEY (AP) – The California men's basketball team erased a 14-point second-half deficit and took a brief lead late but could not finish off UCLA, which earned a 61-60 road win in Haas Pavilion on Saturday.
Jaylon Tyson scored a game-high 16 points, Jalen Celestine added 13 and Fardaws Aimaq finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out. Adem Bona scored 13 points while Dylan Andrews and Lazar Stefanovic scored 12 apiece as UCLA (13-11, 8-5 Pac-12) won its fifth straight. The loss for Cal was its first at home since Jan. 18, and dropped the Golden Bears to 10-14 overall and 6-7 in Pac-12 play.
Sebastian Mack made 1 of 2 foul shots for the Bruins with four seconds left for a 61-57 advantage. Celestine made a 3-pointer with .1 seconds left that made it a one-point game but the Bruins inbounded the ball to end it.
Cal entered the locker room at halftime trailing 35-24 after committing eight turnovers that led to 13 UCLA points.
"We came back fighting in the second half, but it wasn't enough to get over the hump," Cal head coach Mark Madsen said.
Both teams struggled at the free-throw line, missing eight foul shots apiece.
Aimaq's put back off a Tyson miss gave Cal its last lead at 57-56 with 36 seconds remaining. Andrews' jumper 12 seconds later gave UCLA the lead for good.
UCLA maintained a double-digit lead for the first six minutes of the second half before Cal got back into contention.
The Bears outscored UCLA 12-6 and got within 47-41 on a layup from Tyson with 10:08 left. Berke Buyuktuncel made a 3 for UCLA for a nine-point lead before Cal scored eight straight reducing its deficit to 50-49 following a 3 from Celestine with 5:55 left. The score stayed that way until Tyson's basket with 3:05 left gave Cal its first lead since four minutes into the game.
The Bears face Washington State at 7 p.m. PST on Feb. 15 at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman.
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