The Cal Bears guard Keonte Kennedy (3) runs down the court against the UCSD Tritons at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley on Wed Dec 20, 2023 (Cal Bears basketball podcast)

Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023

Haas Pavilion, Berkeley, California

UC San Diego Tritons 67 (6-6)

California Golden Bears 71 (4-7)

By Stephen Ruderman

BERKELEY–The California Golden Bears returned home, and nearly had their worst loss of the season, as they blew a 34-8 lead, but they barely held on after a long and laborious second period to bead the UC San Diego Tritons, 71-67.

The Bears won the opening tip, and they just dominated. Fardaws Aimaq dunked one in to get the scoring started for Cal. Jalen Cone made back-to-back threes, and Jalen Celestine laid one in to make it 10-0 Bears just a minute and 43 seconds into the game.

Cone, Keonte Kennedy and Celestine all hit threes to make it 19-2 just four minutes and 35 seconds in. Aimaq laid one in to make it 21-2. With 8:25 remaining in the first period, Cal led it 34-8.

Cal’s lead remained steady, as they led it 42-19 with 2:30 left, but the Tritons then began to chip away at Cal’s lead, and they closed out the first period with an 8-2 run to go into the half down 44-27.

Come the second period, everything changed. The Tritons scored four unanswered points to start the second period, and make it 44-31. Cal then responded, and made it 50-34, but the Tritons then went on a 14-0 run to cut the Bears’ lead to just two at 50-48.

Just as Cal was making every shot in the first half of the first period, the momentum and tone of the game had completely changed. Now it was the Tritons making every shot, and Cal missing every shot.

The Bears had a brief reprieve, as Rodney Brown Jr. laid one in, and Cone hit a three to open Cal’s lead back to 55-48. However, the Tritons just as quickly bounced right back, as Bryce Pope hit a jumper, and Tyler Mcghie hit a three to make it 55-53.

Pope then hit a three ball, and the Tritons had come all the way back from down 34-8 to take a 56-55 lead with 8:55 remaining. Pope then made a pair of free throws to extend the Tritons’ lead to 58-55.

Aimaq laid one in for Cal to cut it to 58-57, and then after several missed shots by both teams, Keonte Kennedy hit a pair of free throws to put the Bears back ahead at 59-58. Jaylon Tyson then laid one in, was fouled and then made a free throw to make it 62-58. Tyson then made another free throw roughly a minute later to make it 63-58.

The Bears were on an 8-0 run, and appeared to have the momentum back, as the game entered its final minutes. However, Mcghie hit a free throw for the Tritons, and then Francis Nwaokorie hit two more to make it 63-61 with 2:11 remaining.

Aimaq made a jumper to make it 65-61, and Emmanuel Tshimanga made a pair of free throws for San Diego to make it 65-63. Jalen Celestine then hit a three with 1:05 remaining to make it 68-63, followed by a pair of free throws by Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones to make it 68-65.

The Bears had the ball, and then Tshimanga stole the ball from Aimaq, and passed it to Tait-Jones, who laid one in to make it a one-point game at 68-67 with just 22.9 seconds remaining. Hayden Gray fouled Kennedy with 20.9 seconds left, and Kennedy hit both free throws to make it 70-67.

After Mcghie missed a three for the Tritons, Celestine was fouled, and made the final of his two free throws, and the Bears were able to barely hold on to win it, 71-67.

With this win, the Bears have officially surpassed last season’s win total just 11 games into this season, as they improve to 4-7. They will have another eight days off, and then they will welcome the Arizona Wildcats to Haas Pavilion to begin Pac-12 play on Friday, Dec. 29 at 7:30.