Cal Rolls Past Stanford On Senior NIght

BERKELEY (AP) – Jordan Shepherd scored 19 of his 28 points in the first half and California beat rival Stanford 53-39 on Saturday night in front of a season-best crowd of 8,773 at Haas Pavilion.

Cal (12-17, 5-13 Pac-12) ended its seven-game home losing streak while Stanford (15-13, 8-10) has lost three straight and five of its last six.

The game was tied at 4 before Cal scored 19 consecutive points and then took a 35-12 lead into the break. The Cardinal shot an abysmal 14% (4-28) that included missing all nine of their 3-point attempts in the first half. It was Stanford's lowest scoring output in a half this season, and the fewest points Cal has allowed in a half of a conference game on record, per the Pac-12; the previous low was 14 vs. Oregon State in 2000.

The 39 total points scored by Stanford were the fewest allowed by Cal in a conference game since allowing 37 vs. Oregon on Feb. 2, 1985.

"We felt like our defense was terrific to start the game and we were able to sustain that," Cal head coach Mark Fox said. "Offensively, I thought we got the shots we were looking for. It's a terrific win; great environment, terrific fans and a super energy in the building. It was really good for our seniors to finish their home careers this way."

Shepherd was 7-9 and made three 3-pointers in the first half. He finished 11-of-16 shooting with four 3s. Grant Anticevich played in his 136th career game, surpassing David Kravish (2012-15) for the most games played at Cal. Anticevich had eight rebounds to go with five points.

Cal was scoreless for nearly eight minutes in the second half, allowing Stanford to pull to 42-27 before Shepherd's 3-pointer with 7:02 remaining ended the drought. Shepherd later hit a turn-around jumper from the corner, beating the shot clock to stretch the Bears' lead to 19 with 4:33 left that essentially put the game away.

Spencer Jones scored 10 points to lead Stanford, which entered having won six of the last eight regular season games in the series.

Some of Cal's most decorated alumni were on hand for the rivalry win, including Hall-of-Famer and Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd, Cal's career scoring leader Jerome Randle, Sean Lampley and members of the 2010 Pac-10 championship squad, including Theo Robertson, Robert Thurman and Markhuri Sanders-Frison.

"Those players, they were great here and they deserve the kind of effort our team and our crowd gave the program tonight," Fox said. "It was awesome to have them back."

UP NEXT
Cal will travel to face Arizona State (5 p.m. PT, March 3) and Arizona (2 p.m. PT, March 5). Both games will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.

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