Cal has 26-point lead erased before beating UC San Diego 71-67

Dec 21, 2023, 12:16 am

BERKELEY, Calif. -- — Fardaws Aimaq had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Jalen Cone scored 15 points on five 3-pointers and Cal had a 26-point lead erased before beating UC San Diego 71-67 on Wednesday.

Cal and UC San Diego met for the third consecutive season, with the Tritons winning the past two matchups.

Aimaq threw down an alley-oop dunk, off a nice pass by Jaylon Tyson, to give Cal a 65-61 lead. Emmanuel Tshimanga made two free throws for UCSD, but Jalen Celestine answered with a 3-pointer for a five-point lead.

Tshimanga made two more free throws and Cal turned it over, leading to Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones' layup to get UCSD within 68-67 with 22 seconds left. Keonte Kennedy hit two free throws for Cal — which started the game going 6 of 14 from the stripe — for a 70-67 lead.

Tyler McGhie was short on a 3-pointer for UCSD and Celestine sealed it by making 1 of 2 free throws.

Tyson came off the bench to score 13 points for California (4-7). Celestine scored 12 and Kennedy had 10 points, five assists, three steals and two blocks.

Cal scored the opening 10 points of the game and extended its lead to 21-2. The Golden Bears also went on a 9-0 run to take its biggest lead of the game at 34-8.

UC San Diego scored 21 of the first 27 points of the second half to get within 50-48. Cal went without a point for over five minutes, missing six straight shots, during UCSD’s 14-0 run.

UCSD took its first lead of the game at 56-55 on Bryce Pope’s deep 3-pointer with 8:55 remaining, erasing Cal’s 26-point advantage.

McGhie had 20 points and five 3-pointers for UC San Diego (6-6). Pope added 14 points.

Six of UC San Diego’s seven field goals in the first half were from behind the 3-point arc. The Tritons shot just 25% from the field, while Cal went 18 of 30 (60%).

Cal, which concluded its noncoference schedule, will open Pac-12 Conference play against No. 4 Arizona on Dec. 29. The Bears were coming off an 88-78 loss to hot-shooting Ole Miss in San Antonio last Saturday.

------ Get poll alerts and updates on AP Top 25 basketball throughout the season. Sign up here ------ AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball