Justin Cobbs’ Jumper Lifts Cal Golden Bears Past No. 1 Arizona
By Phil Watson
Feb 1, 2014; Berkeley, CA, USA; California Golden Bears guard Justin Cobbs (1) shoots the game winning shot against Arizona Wildcats center Kaleb Tarczewski (35) during the second half at Haas Pavilion. The California Golden Bears defeated the Arizona Wildcats 60-58. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Justin Cobbs knocked down a step-back jumper with 0.9 second remaining and the California Golden Bears stunned the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats Saturday night at Haas Pavilion, handing the Wildcats their first loss of the season.
Cobbs scored the final 12 points for Cal (15-7, 6-3 Pac-12 Conference), which had lost three in a row coming into Saturday’s game. Arizona (21-1, 8-1) had set a school record with 21 straight victories.
The Golden Bears held a slim 30-29 halftime edge and never trailed in the second half until Kaleb Tarczewski’s basket with 4:18 remaining put the Wildcats on top, 56-54.
Cobbs answered with a jumper before T.J. McConnell took a feed from Aaron Gordon and scored in close to put Arizona back up 58-56 with 2:47 to go.
Cobbs knocked down a pair of free throws with 2:29 remaining to tie it and Tarczewski missed a dunk on the other end. Kravish tracked down the rebound, but Cal missed two shots on their possession, a jumper from Cobbs and a 3-pointer by Tyrone Wallace.
Richard Solomon got a steal with 1:13 to go, but Kravish missed a jumper. Arizona collected the rebound and called timeout. With 17 seconds left and around 10 seconds to go on the shot clock, Nick Johnson missed a jumper that Wallace rebounded. Cal pushed the ball downcourt and Cobbs got open with his step-back move for the game winner.
Solomon picked off a full-court inbounds pass from Gabe York after the crowd had to be hurried off the court and then the celebration began.
It was Cal’s first win over a No. 1-ranked team since an 85-70 win over UCLA on Jan. 30, 1994, at Oakland Coliseum. The Golden Bears are now 3-24 against No. 1 teams and beat a top-ranked team in Berkeley for the first time ever.
Cobbs led the Golden Bears with 19 points and seven assists. Kravish had 14 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots, Solomon scored 12 points and had three steals and Wallace tossed in 11 points.
Tarczewski had 18 points for the Wildcats, McConnell added 13 and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson scored 10. Gordon had 13 rebounds and six assists but scored just eight points on 4-of-14 shooting and Johnson—who scored 16 points in Arizona’s win at Stanford Wednesday, scored a season-low four points while going 1-for-14 from the floor.
Arizona was 20-for-62 (32.3 percent) overall, 2-for-11 (18.2 percent) from 3-point range and 16-for-16 from the free-throw line. Cal was 25-for-56 (44.6 percent), 4-for-8 (50 percent) and 6-for-8 (75 percent).
The Wildcats had a 41-32 edge on the boards and committed 10 turnovers. The Golden Bears gave the ball away 11 times.
Cal hosts Stanford on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The Golden Bears took a 69-62 win at Maples Pavilion in the teams’ first meeting on Jan. 2.