Shepherd, Cal pull away late, beat Fresno St. 65-57

Nov 29, 2021, 04:12 am

BERKELEY, Calif. -- — Jordan Shepherd scored 15 of his 17 points after halftime, Andre Kelly finished with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting and California pulled away late to beat Fresno State 65-57 on Sunday night.

Grant Anticevich added 13 points for Cal (3-4). The Golden Bears had lost back-to-back games against ranked opponents at the Fort Myers Tip-off, a 20-point loss to No. 23 Florida last Monday and a 62-59 loss to No. 21 Seton Hall.

Kelly and Anticevich each made a jumper before Joel Brown hit a 3-pointer to make it 7-0 and Cal never trailed.

Orlando Robinson scored nine straight points for the Bulldogs, capped by a 3-pointer that made it 37-all with 11 minutes to go. Cal's Jalen Celestine and Fresno State's Deon Stroud traded 3s to tie again with 10:34 remaining but Grant Anticevich answered with another 3-pointer to give the Golden Bears the lead for good and spark a 16-4 run that made it 59-45. Shepherd and Kuany Kuany made back-to-back 3s to cap the spurt with 1:48 left.

Robinson led Fresno State (5-1) with 25 points, nine rebounds and four blocks. The 7-footer, in his third season with the Bulldogs, has scored at least 16 points in every game this season. He has topped the 20-point plateau in back-to-back games and three of the last four and is averaging 20.5 points and 9.0 rebounds this season.

Isaiah Hill added 10 points for Fresno State.

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