Marco Anthony tallied 13 points, four rebounds, and four assists to lead Utah to a 60-58 victory over California in Berkley on Saturday.
Branden Carlson tallied eight points and five rebounds for the Utes before leaving with an ankle injury with 3:33 left in the second half. Rollie Worster chipped in eight points and seven rebounds.
Utah (11-16, 4-13 Pac-12) won its second straight road game and swept the season series with California.
Lars Thiemann led the Bears with a career-high 16 points and added eight rebounds. Jordan Shepherd chipped in 10 points, six rebounds and five assists. Kuany Kuany and Jalen Celestine chipped in 10 points apiece.
California (11-17, 4-13) dropped its seventh straight contest at home.
Utah used a 15-2 run to carve out a 21-13 first half lead. The Utes surged ahead by attacking the rim. Anthony and Both Gach each converted 3-point plays to ignite the spurt.
California went five minutes without making a field goal until Celestine finally ended the drought with a layup. It opened the door for Utah to rally from an early deficit.
The Utes twice built up a 10-point lead before halftime, both times on baskets from Carlson. His second field goal put Utah up 30-20, but the Utes scored just one more basket over the final 3 1/2 minutes of the first half.
Utah went six minutes without making a field goal in the middle of the second half. California took advantage of the drought, cutting the Utes’ lead to 47-43. The Bears made three straight baskets to make it a two-possession game, capped off by a fastbreak layup from Shepherd.
Carlson and Worster each scored layups to boost Utah’s lead back to double-digits. But California whittled down the deficit a second time.
The Bears cut it to 59-58 on a 3-pointer from Celestine with 5.3 seconds left.
Anthony made one of two free throws on the other end, but Shepherd missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer.
–Field Level Media
