California Golden Bears vs Stanford Cardinal Match Player Stats On Mar 10, 2021

Matt Bradley blocked a Lukas Kisunas dunk attempt, igniting a 12-0 California flurry that broke open a close game and gave the Golden Bears a 76-58 victory over rival Stanford in the first round of the Pacific-12 Conference tournament in Las Vegas on Wednesday night.

The win advances Cal (9-19), the last-place team in the Pac-12 regular season, into Thursday's quarterfinals, where third-seeded and 23rd-ranked Colorado awaits.

A second straight loss to Cal at the conference tournament probably will end the season for sixth-seeded Stanford (14-13), which traveled to Las Vegas without standout freshman Ziaire Williams for undisclosed reasons.

The Golden Bears, who had been swept by the Cardinal during the regular season, led by as many as nine points in the first half and eight early in the second before Stanford rallied. A 3-pointer by Oscar da Silva got the Cardinal within 52-51 with still 6:53 to play.

After a Cal miss, Stanford had a chance to take its first lead of the game, but Bradley met Kisunas at the rim and, 10 seconds later, fed Ryan Betley for a 3-pointer that began the Golden Bears' game-winning run.

Grant Anticevich and Bradley hit jumpers, sandwiching two Andre Kelly free throws, and Jarred Hyder dealt the crushing blow with a 3-pointer at the 3:05 mark, giving Cal its largest lead to that point at 64-51.

Stanford was never closer than 11 after that.

Bradley, who did not start the game but entered less than one minute into it, paced Cal with 19 points. He shot 3-for-4 on 3-pointers as part of the Golden Bears' 9-for-17 success from beyond the arc.

Betley also hit three 3-pointers to account for a majority of his 13 points, while Kelly added 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds for Cal, which entered the tournament having lost four in a row and 11 of 12.

Jaiden Delaire had 14 points, while da Silva and Michael O'Connell added 12 apiece for Stanford, which dropped its fifth in a row.

Cal scored the game's first six points and led throughout the first half en route to a 35-29 advantage at the break. The Golden Bears' biggest lead in the half was nine, the result of a 3-pointer by Bradley in the final minute that put them up 35-26.

--Field Level Media