By Morris Phillips

The only ranked team at the Las Vegas Invitational didn’t figure to be the one suffering the defensive lapses, and leaving the city of glitz with two losses and no wins.

But that team was the California Golden Bears after Terry Allen scored a career-best 34 points to lead Richmond past Cal, 94-90 on Friday afternoon.  The Bears had held all five of their opponents to less than 40 percent shooting before allowing the Spiders to shoot 50 percent from the field and convert nine 3-pointers.

In fact, if it weren’t for a late Cal surge, this one may not have even been close.  But after Cal scored 22 of the 28 points down the stretch to take a 4-point lead with 3:37 remaining, the Bears were not only smarting because of the upset loss, but also because they couldn’t find a way to maintain their slim lead and win late.

With Cal leading 81-77, the Spiders responded with a 7-0 run in which Allen scored on a layup, and then added a couple of free throws.  Richmond then held on to close the game out after briefly squandering a 15-point lead they held early in the second half.

Cal was led by freshman Jaylen Brown who scored 27 points, including a pair of crowd-pleasing dunks.  Tyrone Wallace added 15, and Ivan Rabb had 13 points and seven rebounds.  The Bears fell to an unranked team despite shooting 54 percent from the field.  The Bears fell short at the free throw line where Allen converted 17 of 21 attempts all by himself, and his team made 31 of 39.

The Bears found a way to keep it close despite the disparity at the free throw line and foul trouble that hampered both Cal star freshmen, Rabb and Brown.

“I just tried to block everything out around me,” Allen said.  “They’re not at home, we’re not at home, this is a neutral court, and knock down my shots.”

“It’s great because they’re ranked, they’re so good and they can win a ton of games,” Coach Chris Mooney said when asked about the significance of the win for his Spiders.

The Bears fell despite being eager to reverse their fortunes on Friday after losing to San Diego State, 72-58, in their Invitational opener on Thanksgiving night.  In that one, Cal led by 15 points early in the second half before the Aztecs came up with a 32-7 run to take control.

Winston Shepard led the way for San Diego State with all 15 of his points in the big rally.  Skylar Spencer also added 15 for SDSU.  The perennial NCAA-contending Aztecs have won 15 of 22 against Pac-12 competition after beating the Bears on Thursday.

Cal was out-rebounded 44-36—the first time they’ve been out-rebounded—this season, and they allowed an opponent to score more than 67 points for the first time as well.

Cal was led by Rabb with a career-best 18 points.  Wallace scored 16 points but missed 11 of his 18 shots from the field.

The Bears return home to Haas Pavilion on Tuesday when they will host the Seattle Redhawks at 7pm.