Cal Bears Clinch Bye in Pac-12 Tournament with Win over ASU

The Cal Bears ended their regular season on a high note, beating Arizona State to clinch a top-four seed and first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament.

For the past three seasons, the Arizona State Sun Devils have bullied the California Golden Bears on the basketball court. The Bears returned the favor this season. In January, Cal held off the Sun Devils despite a tough fight, coming away with a 75-70 win on Haas Pavilion. On Saturday, they finished the job with their second win against Arizona State, a 68-65 win at the Wells Fargo Arena.

The Bears took the opening tip, and grabbed a quick lead when senior Tyrone Wallace dropped a three-pointer on the first possession. Arizona State’s Eric Jacobsen put in two straight baskets afterward, pushing the Sun Devils ahead in the early going. After ASU took a 7-5 lead, the Bears went on an 8-0 run, fueled by freshman Ivan Rabb‘s five points, and pushed the lead to six in the first six minutes. Arizona battled back to a two-point deficit, but junior sharpshooter Jordan Mathews‘ consecutive three-pointers gave Cal an eight-point edge.

Most of the early portion of the game was spent with each team trying to feel the other out. They traded baskets, and neither team was able to gain a firm hold on the lead in the first half. Even after Cal took the eight-point lead, Arizona State scored six in a row of their own to get back within two again. Tra Holder’s jumper a little later tied the game, and Jacobsen’s layup shortly after put ASU back ahead, 26-24.

Arizona State was able to establish dominance over Cal in the last few minutes of the half. While Cal’s offense became stagnant and ineffective, the Sun Devils took control with a 19-6 run to end the half. Cal got the last bucket on the half when Mathews hit a floater from mid-range to beat the halftime buzzer, but Arizona State still took a 33-28 lead into the locker room.

Over the final eight minutes of the first half, the Bears were much less than golden. They only attempted eight shots, and could sink just two of those attempts. They turned the ball over five times in that span. What was a four-point lead at the beginning of that run turned into a five-point deficit.

Things didn’t start much better for the Bears in the second half. Cal took two shots, both three-pointers, without a make, and the Sun Devils started with five straight points, pushing their lead to 10, the biggest of the night for either side in the game. Head coach Cuonzo Martin was forced to call a timeout less than two minutes into the second half.

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Following the brief stoppage, the Bears began to play with a bit more urgency. Instead of taking a lot of time off the shot clock and eventually settling for tough shots, they began to attack the rim more, wasting less time on the clock. It took a longer little on the defensive end, but Cal settled down and began making big stops while forcing ASU into the poor shots that Cal settled for earlier in the ballgame.

As the game crossed the 10-minutes-to-play mark, Mathews did what he does best, draining a long three-pointer to cut ASU’s lead to one, at 47-46 with about 9:20 to go. On the next possession, Wallace splashed in two from the free throw line, and Cal took the lead back, 48-47, thanks to a 9-0 scoring run in their favor.

The run ended when Jacobsen completed an old-fashioned three-point play, putting the Sun Devils back ahead, 50-48. The two teams went back-and-forth again, trading baskets and leads for a couple minutes. With 4:21 left to play, Wallace drained a three from the corner to break a tie, putting the Bears up 55-52 and forcing Arizona head coach Bobby Hurley to use a timeout.

With 33.9 seconds to go, Cal held a two-point lead, and Arizona State began fouling to stall any momentum from their opponents. Wallace went to the line, and showed his reputation as an overall spotty free throw shooter that always seems to come up big in big moments. He hit both at the line to put Cal up 64-60, and the defense responded by forcing a turnover on the other end. The Sun Devils fouled again, and Bird made one of two for his only point of the night and to extend the advantage to five.

That lead proved to be too much for Arizona State. They missed a contested three-pointer on the other end, and Rabb put the final nail in the coffin by sinking two at the stripe to make it a three-possession game. Gerry Blakes drained a late three for ASU to make it a one-score game again, but it was too little, too late as Cal walked away with a 68-65 win.

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The game changed completely with about 10 minutes to play. At that point in the game, ASU was shooting 46.5 percent (20-43), while Cal shot 41 percent (16-39). After that, ASU’s shooting percentage dropped to an abysmal 25 percent (4-16), while Cal held steady at 43 percent (6-14).

Playing in the final regular season game of his college career, Cal’s senior Wallace had a huge game. He scored a game-high 24 points, including 19 in the second half, while making all eight of his free throw attempts. That marks the most free throws he’s made in a single game without a miss during his tenure at Cal. Wallace also pulled down seven rebounds and dished out five assists.

Mar 5, 2016; Tempe, AZ, USA; California Golden Bears forward Ivan Rabb (1) controls the ball against the Arizona State Sun Devils during the first half at Wells-Fargo Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /

Mathews continued to be a force off the bench for the Bears. He totaled 18 points for the second-best number on the team, hitting four three-pointers in the process. This is Mathews’ third straight game in which he’s scored in double-figures off the bench for Cal, and the eighth time this year that he’s hit at least four three-pointers.

Jaylen Brown went through the worst game of his freshman season the last time out against Arizona, and while he didn’t light it up at Arizona State, he did total 10 points and hit a big shot and some big free throws down the stretch.

By beating Arizona State on Saturday, the Bears claim the regular season sweep against the Sun Devils, a big turnaround from the way they entered the season. Arizona State had won the previous five matchups, including a 35-point beatdown last season at Cal’s home floor. This is Cal’s first regular season sweep of the Devils since the 2010-2011 campaign, which also included Cal’s last victory at the Wells Fargo Arena.

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This win is also big for the Golden Bears Pac-12 tournament hopes, as they have clinched a top-four seed, and a first-round bye. The tournament kicks off on Wednesday when the eight lowest-seeded teams compete to see who will move on, and who will head home. The top four seeds see their first action on Thursday, facing the winners from day one.

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