Bears Tripped Up By Beavers

Box Score (PDF) | Notes (PDF) | Boxscore

CORVALLIS, Ore. – California earned a 21-point effort from guard Matt Bradley and a nine-point, five-rebound performance off the bench from forward Andre Kelly, but came up short in a 71-63 season-opening loss to Oregon State at Gill Coliseum on Wednesday.
 
The game was played as a non-conference contest, and came to fruition when Colorado State was unable to play in the Beavers' multiple-team event (MTE) as a result of positive COVID-19 tests within its program.
 
Bradley's 21 points marked the 12th time in his career that he's poured in 20-plus. The junior made 10-of-11 at the free throw line and hit five shots from the field. Graduate transfers Makale Foreman and Ryan Betley contributed to the scoring load in their Cal debuts; Foreman tallied 10 points and Betley added nine on 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc.
 
The Bears (0-1) struggled to find offensive rhythm after limited practice time in the weeks leading up to the season, shooting 40 percent (23-of-58) from the field and 24 percent (6-of-25) from three-point range.
 
Forward Grant Anticevich grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds – his fifth career double-digit rebounding effort – for Cal. Oregon State (1-0) was powered by 16 points from Warith Alatishe and 15 from Ethan Thompson.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Cal pulled within five points with 1:38 on the clock after a pair of free throws by Bradley, but Oregon State converted four free throws in the final minute to close out the contest.
 
After the Beavers established two different 14-point leads, Foreman drained one of his two three-pointers at the six-minute mark to spark a short rally and close the gap to 11 at 61-50. Cal made a run of seven straight points and pulled within six, but Alfred Hollins knocked down a three at the other end to quell the rally and make it a 52-43 Oregon State advantage with 11:20 left.
 
The Beavers scored 11 of the first 16 points in the second half to build their then-largest lead of the game, 47-36, with 15:23 to play. The run extended a strong finish in the first half by Oregon State, which made five of its last six from the field to take a 36-31 lead into the locker room.
 
In first-half action, Cal used a six-point run to take a 20-18 advantage, but Oregon State answered with a nine-point run of its own over the following two minutes to go up, 27-20, and force a Bears timeout. Betley knocked down two straight three-pointers in his first minutes as a Bear, to make it an 18-16 game at the third media timeout with 7:24 on the clock before halftime. Kelly came off the bench for his first action of the season and made back-to-back buckets, pulling Cal with four points, 14-10, at the 12:01 mark of the first half.
 
NEXT UP
Cal wraps up action at the Oregon State MTE against NAIA foe Northwest on Thursday. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network.
 
STAY POSTED
For complete coverage of Cal men's basketball, please follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalMBBall), Instagram (@CalMBBball) and Facebook (/CalMBBall/)