By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, March 7, 2015

TEMPE, Arizona – After suffering a season-worst drubbing two days ago against Arizona, California did what it wanted to do Saturday afternoon – jump to a big lead against Arizona State.

The Bears did exactly that, leading 13-5 4 1/2 minutes into the game. But ASU erased that deficit by the end of the first half and held on for a 74-70 Pac-12 men’s basketball victory.

“That’s what happens when you don’t let your seniors all start on Senior Day,” ASU Coach Herb Sendek said, noting the unselfishness of senior reserves Jonathan Gilling and Bo Barnes choosing not to start their final home game at Wells Fargo Arena. “After falling behind early, our guys kept their poise and played great defense in the last 2/3 of the first half – that was our best defensive stretch.”

The Bears (17-14 overall, 7-11 Pac-12) were mauled 99-60 by Arizona on Thursday in Tucson, and hoped for an outcome that would help secure the sixth seed in the upcoming Pac-12 tournament. Arizona State (17-14 overall, 9-9 Pac-12) finishes no lower than sixth with the win.

“It was a hard fought game. We gave ourselves a chance but came up short,” Bears Coach Cuonzo Martin said. “I thought (Savon) Goodman did a good job of getting rebounds and making plays. They competed and they battled. Both teams battled. We got off to a great start and just came up short.”

Guard Tyrone Wallace scored 18 of his game-high 23 points in the second half, hitting a pair of 3-pointers down the stretch and ignoring the fabled Curtain of Distraction by hitting 5 of 7 free throws. Jabari Bird scored 13 points for Cal, with Jordan Mathews and Sam Singer adding 11 points each.

As a team, Arizona State hit 44 percent (28 of 64) from the floor, but missed 7 of 11 free throws in the second half. Shaquielle McKissic, who was sizzling in the Sun Devils’ Thursday night win over Stanford, continued where he left off by leading ASU with 21 points.

“Shaq was huge for us,. He played with a lot of confidence,” Sendek said. “Bo Barnes hitting those four free throws down the stretch was huge as well. It was a good team win on a very short turnaround.”

Savon Goodman added 18 points and eight rebounds for Arizona State, while Gerry Blakes contributed 16 points and Eric Jacobson grabbed eight boards as ASU outrebounded Cal 40-37.

“Savon killed us down low,” Bears guard Tyrone Wallace said. “I thought we fought, we came back with a run and just didn’t have enough.”

Cal missed its first six free throws against the Curtain of Distraction and finished the game 4-for-11 after going 4-for-4 in the first half. The notorious Curtain is only used in the second half when the visiting team shoots toward the student section.

After Cal built a 22-12 lead, the Sun Devils used a five-minute, 16-4 run to surge ahead for the first time on a Blakes layup with 5:10 remaining in the first half. ASU then broke a 28-28 tie with a 7-2 run to close out the half, taking a 35-32 lead into the lockerroom.

The Sun Devils took a 52-42 lead on a three-point play by McKissic with 14:05 left in the second half. Cal pulled to within 56-54 on a David Kravish lay-in. After a Jacobson tip-in put ASU up by 63-52, the Bears used a 10-2 run, capped by a Kravish layup with 1:32 left, to pull with 65-63.

Wallace buried a 3-pointer with 30 seconds remaining to bring Cal to within 67-66, but the Sun Devils were in the two-shot bonus and pulled away with three free throws by McKissic and four by Barnes. Wallace hit one final 3-pointer with :15.3 to play and an uncontested layup with :06 left.

“That’s the play that we scripted and we run in practice,” Martin said.”I thought we got the look we wanted but it just didn’t go in.”

“After I made the 3, we had to foul,” Wallace explained. “After they got a 3, we designed a play to get either Jordan or Jamari to go off the pick and get a shot. We got the shot we wanted and it just didn’t go down.”

Arizona State spent the final 3 1/2 minutes in the two-shot bonus after Christian Behrens picked up the Bears’ 10th team foul of the half. Jordan Mathews fouled out with five seconds left, while Wallace and Jabari Bird each finished with four personals.

Cal was whistled for 23 fouls, including a technical on Roge Moute A Bidias late in the first half, while ASU was called for 16.

“It’s never fun to get into foul trouble because it gets you out of the flow of the game, especially when we were up early,” Kravish said. “Arizona State did a great job of battling, but the fouls just get you out of the flow and it’s very frustrating.”

“Losing David (Kravish) hurt because he’s our best post man,” Wallace said. “Right now, he’s about the only one we can throw the ball in to and expect him to score on his own. He’s also a rim protector, so when he’s out, it changes the game and it really hurts.”

A 2-for-20 shooting stretch midway through in the second half didn’t help the Bears, either.

““I just think we had some foul trouble,” Martin said. “One of the things again, just like the last game, when David Kravish goes out you don’t have that low-post production so it’s hard to get the ball inside like you need to and everything is really on the perimeter. Tyrone (Wallace) got two fouls, so when you have two of your better scorers and leaders on the bench that makes it tough when you’re playing against a good team that really pressures you and gets in the passing lanes. But that’s what’s to be expected.”

The Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament starts Wednesday at MGM Arena in Las Vegas. Seedings will be announced later. Because of their overall record, the Bears could also be headed to the National Invitation Tournament.

“The most important thing for us is to get back home safely and we’ll go from there,” Martin said. “I think that’s the biggest thing. That and we have to get ready for the Pac-12 Tournament before we do anything else.”

“We’re working hard to get better every day, and we played much better than we did against Arizona,” Kravish said. “We’re just trying to take steps to improve because there’s still an automatic berth up for grabs, and it’s anybody’s tournament.

“If somebody wants to sit back on their heels and think they have it made, we’ll take them.”

The announced crowd was 5,619 for ASU’s home finale.