Cal Bears Hold Off OSU to Advance to Semis of Pac-12 Tournament
To finish a day of fantastic Pac-12 basketball, the Cal Bears held off a very game Oregon State team to advance to the semi-finals of the conference tournament.
In the first game of the Pac-12 Tournament to be featured on Fox Sports 1, the California Golden Bears were matched up against the Oregon State Beavers. This game was the rubber match between the two after they split the regular season series at one win apiece. The Beavers won the first contest 77-71 on January 9th in Corvallis, Oregon, while the Bears avenged that defeat with an 83-71 win in Berkeley on February 13th. In a highly-contested and hard-fought battle, the Bears claimed the season series with a 76-68 win.
Oregon State controlled the opening tip, but came up empty on their first possession of the day. On the other end, Cal came up shooting, getting a three-ball from Jabari Bird to open the scoring, and kick off the Jabari Bird show in the early going. He drove and scored for a layup on the next possession, and drained another long three a few possessions later to put Cal up 10-3 early. He cracked double-figures in just over six minutes with a dunk off a turnover.
The lead swelled to as large as 12 in Cal’s favor in the first 10 minutes, but Oregon State withstood the early assault and was able to start firing back, getting to within two at around the six-and-a-half-minute mark. As Cal struggled to finish at their own end, the Beavers started to find the bottom of the net, and Derrick Bruce‘s three brought them within a single point with three minutes to go. Cal was able to give themselves a little breathing room before the half, and went into the locker room ahead 34-30.
Cal started the second half in style, with Tyrone Wallace throwing a beautiful lob to Ivan Rabb, who slammed it home to put the scoreboard operator back to work.
Cal quickly pushed their lead back to 10, but Oregon State very quickly cut it back down to one again. At the 9:19 mark, Derrick Bruce hit a three-ball, tying the game at 49 and marking the first tie since it was three apiece in the first minute. Bird hit another three, his third of the game, the other way to put Cal back ahead. A few minutes later, Oregon State took their first lead of the contest, 55-54, as Gary Payton II drained a corner three, but it was Bird flying high for Cal again. He hit a three the other way on the next possession, re-taking the lead for Cal 57-55.
The lead would change again after a timeout, as Stephen Thompson Jr. completed an old-fashioned three-point play to make it 58-57. Bird would hit yet another triple, matching his season high with five, to tie, but Oregon State would regain the lead after two Payton free throws. The hot potato with the lead continued as Jaylen Brown buried three huge free throws to put Cal back in front, 63-62, with 4:28 to play. From that point, Cal would not look back, crossing the finish line with a 76-68 victory.
Cal ended the game on a 15-6 run, which would end up being the difference at the conclusion. When it mattered most, the Bears got their buckets and shut it down on the other end.
Oregon State did an excellent job exploiting mismatches, running a lot of screens to get a Cal big man defending a guard. It worked to keep the Beavers in the game and eventually put them ahead, but the Bears became privy to the strategy, and shut it down late.
Bird and Rabb were the heroes for the Bears on Thursday night. Bird scored 20, including five clutch three-pointers, while Rabb scored a career-high 21 points and pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds, including six off the offensive glass. Rabb now has 274 rebounds on the season, setting the school’s record for freshman.
Senior Tyrone Wallace scored just six points, but played the role of facilitator, handing out a career-high 10 assists. Off the bench, junior Jordan Mathews scored in double-figures for the fourth straight game, adding a much-needed 17 points.
For the third straight game, Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Jaylen Brown struggled for the Bears. He scored just eight, and hit one of his six shot attempts, although he did hit those three big free throws late to give Cal their final lead of the night. Over the last three games, Brown is scoring 7.7 points and shooting 23.3 percent (7-30). Cal will need him to find his previous form to keep going in this tournament, and beyond.
When things looked dire for the Beavers, it was little-known freshman point guard Derrick Bruce who stepped up and kept them in the game early. He entered the game averaging 3.2 points per contest, and cracked double-figures twice all season, collecting 11 points twice, against Cal and UCLA. In the first half, with leading scorer Gary Payton II on the bench dealing with a sore ankle and second-leading scorer Tres Tinkle out for the second straight game with a foot injury, Bruce picked up the slack, showing off a David Copperfield-esque sleight of hand in Las Vegas with beautiful crossovers and dribble moves. He surpassed his career-high in the first half with 15 points, and finished with 25.
Next: Pac-12 Tournament Day Two: Much More Competitive
In another rubber match, Cal will take on Utah in the semi-finals on Fox Sports 1. Each team beat the other on their home court, with Cal winning at Haas 71-58 on January 3rd, and Utah coming up winners 73-64 on January 27th.