Cal Blows 18-Point Lead, Loses to Stanford in Pac-12 Tournament

Cal's 2023-24 season ended in agonizing fashion.

The Bears led Stanford by 18 points with less than 15 minutes remaining in the game, but lost to the Cardinal 87-76 in overtime on Wednesday in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas.

The Bears had a stretch of nearly 10 minutes in the second half in which they failed to score a point. That drought cost the Bears, who had an 18-point lead with 14:36 left in the game before Stanford rallied.

Cal was still in good shape when it held a four-point lead with 33 seconds left.  A Spencer Jones free throw with 26.4 seconds left made it a three-point game, and Cal turned the ball over in the backcourt, leading to a three-pointer by Michael Jones that tied the game at 69-69 with 19.6 seconds left.

Stanford had been 2-for-21 on three-pointers before that Michael Jones basket.

Cal turned the ball over again on the inbounds play, but Stanford was unable to score and the game went to overtime.

However, Stanford made its first two three-point shots of the overtime period to take command.  Cal never got its offense going again in the extra period, socring just five minutes in overtime.

In the final 19:36 of the game (14;36 of the second half plus the five-minute overtime), Cal managed just 11 points

Cal played the overtime without Jalen Celestine and Fardaws Aimaq, both of whom had fouled out.  But that does not account for losing a game in which it led by 18 points.

So Stanford (14-17) will face second-seeded Washington State in the quarterfinals on Thursday, while Cal (13-19) ended the season with four straight losses.  The last two losses were against Stanford, which had defeated Cal 80-58 in the final regular-season game on Thursday.

The biggest discrepancy on Wednesday was at the foul line.  Stanford attempted 36 free throws, making 24, and Cal had nine foul shots, and made six of them.

Jalen Cone led Cal with 19 points, and Jaylon Tyson added 18, although Tyson scored just two points in the second half.

Cal began the game with an offensive outburst, taking an early 15-4 lead and maintaining its lead throughout the first half.

The Bears shot 54.3% from the field in the first half and led by as many as 12 points late in the half, which ended with Cal holding a 45-34 lead.

A major part of Cal’s first-half success was Stanford’s problems from three-point range. The Cardinal entered the game leading the Pac-12 in three-point shots made per game, but Stanford missed its first nine attempts from beyond the three-point line and ended the half 2-for-15 from long range.

Jaylon Tyson finished the half with 16 points, while Maxime Raynaud had 13 points in the first 20 minutes for Stanford.