Cal builds big lead, holds off Colorado
Cal builds big lead, holds off Colorado
The short-handed Colorado Buffaloes were forced to play zone defense instead of their usual man-to-man defense Sunday afternoon, and the Bears took advantage.
Cal unleashed an 8-for-12 fusillade from the field as it went on a 19-0 run in the middle of the first half that fueled a 77-66 win at Haas Pavilion in front of a crowd of 9,719.
With Colorado’s leading scorer Xavier Johnson and top shot-blocker Wes Gordon benched against the Bears for disciplinary reasons, according to a source, the Buffaloes went scoreless for 6:07 during the first half as Cal made its run, which began with 11:15 to play before intermission.
“The zone helped us out,” said Bears head coach Cuonzo Martin, who found out about the lineup change just 10 minutes before tipoff.
Cal (17-6, 8-3 Pac-12) came into Sunday making 34 percent of its three-point attempts 218th of 351 Division I teams in three-point shooting.
The Bears missed their first three from long distance against Colorado (13-11, 3-8), but went 5-of-7 from three-point range during the 19-0 stretch, making more three-pointers in the first half (9) than they have in 18 of their previous 22 games.
Cal finished 11-of-29 from beyond the arc.
The Bears were “penetrating the gaps and looking for the kick-out, so the bigs were sagging in, so the kick-outs were wide open,” said freshman Charlie Moore, who had a team-high 17 points.
Moore shot 5-of-7 from long distance before the break, including 3-for-3 from three during the 19-0 run.
Senior guard Sam Singer touched off the rally with a hanging floater on the baseline, and kept the run afloat with a step-up three with 8:24 left in the half to give Cal a 23-12 lead.
With 3:28 left in the first half, the Bears led by 23, but with 3:19 to play in the game, a three by Colorado’s Derrick White — who scored a game-high 25 — cut Colorado’s deficit to 62-57.
“I don’t think we let up,” said senior guard Grant Mullins, who scored 16 points.
Finishing has been an issue for the Bears this season.
Cal led Arizona by 13 and lost by five, led Utah by 14 and won by two in double overtime, and led by 22 against Wyoming before allowing the Cowboys to get within five.
Against UC Irvine on Nov. 16, Cal led by as many as 13, but needed overtime to dispatch the Anteaters.
“They might be [mentally] stronger, but my heart is getting weak,” Martin said.
For some reason, we just get in situations where we get a little fancy, we go off script, crazy stuff happen.
Ivan Rabb had 11 points and 11 rebounds for his 12th double-double of the season.
Junior Kingsley Okoroh started the game and played 21 minutes, wearing a plastic mask after breaking his nose against Utah on Thursday.
Okoroh tallied three blocks to tie Richard Solomon (2010-14) for fifth on the school’s all-time blocks list with 119.
Ryan Gorcey is a freelance writer.
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