Efe Abogidi took advantage of the absence of California star big man Andre Kelly to record his first double-double of the season, Michael Flowers ran up a game-high 21 points and Washington State recorded a rare Northern California sweep by defeating the host Golden Bears 68-64 in Pacific-12 Conference play Saturday in Berkeley, Calif.
Abogidi finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Cougars (14-7, 7-3 Pac-12), who were coming off a 66-60 win at Stanford on Thursday night.
The 2-0 NorCal trip was Washington State’s first since January of 1993.
Jalen Celestine had a career-high 20 points and Grant Anticevich 16 for California (9-15, 2-11), which announced Friday that Kelly, the team’s leading rebounder and second-leading scorer, would be lost for the season with an ankle injury.
After a first half in which neither team led by more than four points, the Cougars gradually pulled away in the second period. A 3-pointer from DJ Rodman put Washington State up 49-41 at the 12:56 mark and a three from Tyrell Roberts made it 60-48 with 7:24 to go.
Cal rallied within 63-59 on a Jordan Shepherd layup with 2:54 to play, then 63-61 when Joel Brown followed in Celestine’s missed 3-pointer with 1:17 left.
The Golden Bears eventually had two chances to tie, but Shepherd missed a 3-pointer with 42 seconds left with the hosts down three, and Brown couldn’t connect on a short jumper with six seconds to go with Cal down two.
Flowers hit four late free throws, including two with five seconds remaining, to secure the Cougars’ fifth straight win.
Flowers went 7-for-7 at the line, helping Washington State gain a 14-5 advantage in free throw points. The Cougars shot 14-for-17, the Golden Bears 5-for-5 from the line.
Roberts had 12 points and Mouhamed Gueye 10 for the visitors.
Celestine shot 7-for-11 overall and 3-for-6 on 3-pointers.
Anticevich went 4-for-5 on threes as he and Celestine combined for all seven of the Golden Bears’ 3-pointers. The Cougars made 10 from beyond the arc.
Shepherd added 10 points, while Brown collected a game-high six assists to complement six points for Cal, which lost its 10th straight.
–Field Level Media
