Local Teams

California's bid for an upset of Pac-12-leading UCLA came up just short Thursday night as the No. 24 Bruins edged the Golden Bears 61-57 in Berkeley, Calif.

Cody Riley scored 13 points and Jules Bernard added 11 for the Bruins, including a key 3-pointer late in the game. UCLA, held 17 points under its average points per game, remained undefeated in the conference at 8-0 while improving to 12-2 overall.

Johnny Juzang made two free throws with 8.9 seconds to play to seal UCLA's win, the seventh in a row for the Bruins.

Cal made it difficult for all 40 minutes, the game played at their slower tempo with the Bears making 10 3-pointers to four for the Bruins. Grant Anticevich scored 21 points and hit all five of his 3-point tries for Cal (7-9, 2-7).

The Bruins led by as many as six points early in the first half, but Cal refused to go away. A steal and dunk from Jaime Jaquez Jr. made it 20-18 Bruins with 9:51 to go. Jaquez landed hard on his back but bounced back up.

After UCLA led 22-18, the Bears went on a 10-2 run and never trailed the rest of the half. A Jalen Celestine 3 gave Cal a 36-30 lead with 26 seconds left, his only points of the half, then Riley scored with a second left for UCLA to trail by four at halftime.

The difference in the first half for Cal was 7 of 12 3-point shooting, compared to just 2 of 6 for the conference leaders in that category, UCLA. Anticevich had 11 first-half points.

The Bruins surged ahead by five with a 7-0 run early in the second half, but Cal turned a 50-45 deficit into a 55-54 lead with four minutes to play on another Anticevich 3-pointer.

Bernard hit a trey with 2:08 left, giving the Bruins a 59-55 lead, but Jarred Hyder made a layup to make it a two-point game with 13 seconds left. UCLA closed out the game at the foul line.

--Field Level Media