Cal Hands No. 10 Oregon Second Straight Loss
BERKELEY (CBS/AP) -- Justin Cobbs made an 18-foot jumper with 1:35 remaining then added a pair of free throws and California hung on to beat No. 10 Oregon 58-54 on Saturday, handing the Ducks their second straight loss to an unranked team this week.
Allen Crabbe and Richard Solomon scored 13 points apiece, and Tyrone Wallace added 12 while helping the Golden Bears (13-8, 5-4 Pac-12) win back-to-back games for the first time since December.
Tony Woods had 14 points and eight rebounds for Oregon but failed to get a potential tying shot after grabbing E.J. Singler's missed 3-pointer with 5.2 seconds left. The Ducks (18-4, 7-2) were held scoreless over the final four minutes.
Fans rushed center court at Haas Pavilion and surrounded Cal's players in a raucous celebration after Oregon's Johnathan Loyd's missed jumper as the buzzer sounded. It's the Bears' first win over a top 10 team in more than five years.
The frantic finish was in stark contrast to the first 35 minutes of the game when both teams struggled to find any kind of offensive rhythm.
Oregon shot 47.6 percent from the floor but made only one real solid run in the second half when the Ducks scored 11 straight to take a 50-42 lead.
That turned out to be the lone highlight of the week for coach Dana Altman's team. Oregon, which jumped six spots in the rankings this week, lost to Stanford 76-52 on Thursday.
Cobbs, who finished with eight points and seven assists, made his go-ahead shot from just inside the 3-point line after Singler missed from beyond the arc.
The two teams then exchanged airballs before Singler misfired again on a 3-point attempt. The ball glanced off the front of the rim and Woods appeared in position for an easy putback but David Kravish reached in to force a jumpball, giving Cal possession.
Cobbs then made two free throws with 3.9 seconds left, and moments later the court was a sea of yellow.
Suddenly the conference race is a lot more crowded.
Oregon will still maintain at least a share of the lead in the Pac-12 but there are five other teams sticking close. Arizona and Arizona State, which began the day one game behind the Ducks, play later Saturday evening.
Cal is certainly in the mix following its 10th consecutive win over Oregon.
It didn't start out so well.
The Bears missed 13 of their first 16 attempts from the floor, shot just 31.3 percent in the first half and repeatedly turned the ball over against an Oregon team missing one of its best defenders.
Starting point guard Dominic Artis -- second on the Ducks in steals -- missed his third straight game with a left foot injury and watched the game from the bench wearing a walking boot.
His replacement, Loyd, had five points and five assists early but fell to the floor with 16.4 seconds left in the first half and left holding his right wrist. He returned in the second half, his wrist heavily taped.
Even before Loyd went down Oregon looked flat offensively.
The Ducks got off to a sluggish start for the second straight game and led only 21-18 following Singler's 3-pointer with 5:58 remaining. But they were held without a basket the rest of the half and looked nothing like the team that had rattled off nine consecutive wins before getting blown out by Stanford by 24 points on Thursday.
Crabbe brought the Haas Pavilion crowd to its feet when he stole the ball from Loyd and raced the length of the court for a dunk that put Cal up 22-21.
Kravish later scored on a tip-in to keep the Bears ahead by one before Woods made four free throws to give the Ducks a 27-24 halftime lead.
Solomon scored six of Cal's first eight points coming out of the break but neither team led by more than three until Oregon's 11-0 run midway through the second half put the Ducks up 50-42.
David Kravish stopped the run with a 7-foot jumper and Crabbe later scored on a breakaway layup to tie the score at 54-all, setting the stage for Cobbs game-winner.
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