By Morris Phillips

For the Cal Bears, it was everything but the finish at Arizona’s imposing McKale Center.

The Bears led 61-53 with 1:52 remaining, when the Wildcats and senior guard Gabe York took over, scoring the final 11 points of the game to shock Cal, 64-61 as York buried two big 3-pointers.

The Bears’ first loss in over a month brought to the end their hopes to share the Pac-12 regular season title. Cal needs a win Saturday at Arizona State to clinch a top-four finish in the league, and a bye in the upcoming Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas.

“The finish tonight was one of the great finishes that I’ve been a part of,” Arizona Coach Sean Miller said. “Karma has a funny way of coming back around. I’ve listened or heard the different quotes that different people are saying that at the end of the game that Gabe hasn’t necessarily come through. That maybe you need to give the ball to somebody else, etcetera. He looked pretty good at the end of the game tonight.”

While Cal’s February was flawless, Arizona’s was filled with questions about their declining play and losses that took them out of the chase for the conference title. York heard much of the criticism as he failed to come through in a couple of high profile, late game situations. What criticism didn’t come York’s way was heaped on forward senior Ryan Anderson, but both came up big on Thursday.

Anderson finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and York compiled all of his 19 points after halftime. York hit three 3-pointers in the final 2:36 even as the Bears knew the ball would be in his hands.

“We have to get him off the line,” Cal coach Cuonzo Martin said. “If anything, make him drive the ball, but he can’t catch and shoot a 3-pointer.”

The loss mirrored Cal’s late game struggles at Virginia in December, as the youthful Bears showed they need additional growth in late-game situations. But for the first 38 minutes, Cal looked like the better team they’ve been for the last month.

The Bears got big performances from post players Kingsley Okoroh and Kameron Rooks, who combined for 10 points and 11 rebounds. Ivan Rabb was just as effective with 15 points and 13 rebounds, but the Bears perimeter players struggled as Tyrone Wallace, Jabari Bird and Jordan Mathews combined to miss 24 of their 34 shot attempts.

“We played tremendous defense,” Miller said. “If you look at Cal’s numbers, other than their offensive rebounding, if we would have done a better job there we would have won the game by a different margin, maybe in a different way. They certainly beat us up around the glass, but our numbers, our perimeter defense showed up tonight. That was also a big part of why we won.”

Freshman Jaylen Brown immediately declared his desire and readiness to face the Wildcats after Sunday’s win over USC capped Cal’s perfect home schedule. But on Thursday, the mercurial freshman had his worst game of the season, playing just 15 minutes, and scoring five points, before fouling out. Brown missed seven of his nine attempts from the floor.

Cal faces ASU on Saturday in the regular season finale. The Sun Devils, coached by former Sacramento King and Duke star Bobby Hurley, won on Thursday, beating Stanford 74-64 in Tempe. ASU softened Stanford by grabbing 15 offensive rebounds that may not be available when they face the Bears.