Stanford Cardinal Oscar da Silva (13) shares congratulations with teammates as the Cardinal sweep the two game home at home series against the Cal Bears at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto on Sun Feb 7, 2021 (gostanford.com photo)

By Barbara Mason

Sunday night the Stanford Cardinals took on the Cal Bears at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal came away with the victory 76-70 over Cal. Last Thursday night the Cardinal beat the Bears 70-55 and tonight were looking for a sweep. The Bears have lost five games in a row and have been struggling with a record of 7-13 while Stanford is playing far better ball with an 11-7 record.

Stanford was leading by the score of 35-24 at halftime and the Bears were fighting to avoid a six game losing streak. The Cardinals stand-out Oscar Da Silva led the scoring with 21 points and getting help from Lukas Kisunas with 12 points and Michael O’Connell with ten points.

While Cal did get some nice work from Matt Bradley (15 points), Ryan Betley (12 points) and Joel Brown (11 points) it just wasn’t enough to get past the far faster, stronger, Cardinals. Stanford led at the half and never let up throughout the second half.

Cal did make a bid at the end of the game but it was just a little too late pulling to within six points. They just ran out of time as Stanford closed out the game at the free throw line. This sealed the game for the Cardinal being an exceptional free throw team.

Stanford is now 12-7 and 8-5 in conference play while Cal falls to 7-14 having a dismal season with only two wins in their conference. They have now lost six games in a row.

Stanford will now take on a couple of tough opponents in Colorado this Thursday afternoon at 4:00 pm at Maples. They will have one more game at home against Utah before they head out on the road for a meeting with Washington. Tipoff against Utah will be Saturday night at 8:00 PM.