Cal stomps Stanford in a shocking upset

LAS VEGAS –– The 11th seed Cal Berkeley Golden Bears came out swinging against the 6th seed Stanford Cardinal, scoring in the first 15 seconds off a shot from Grant Anticevich. Stanford struggled to finish at the beginning of the half, going 2-10 on field goals to start the game.

The Bears continually found success in the paint while Stanford began to knock down a few threes to keep the score close throughout the opening 10 minutes. 

Cal dominated defensively in the first half, forcing 5 turnovers and holding Stanford’s field goal shooting to just 40 percent. 

The Bears were also able to find their rhythm on the offensive front, shooting 56 percent from the field and 43 percent from three-point range, allowing them to build their lead to as large as 9 points. 

While Cal’s offense showed up to play, fouls plagued them allowing for Stanford to sink 7 free throws throughout the 20 minute period.

Walking into the locker rooms at half, the lower ranked Bears had a surprising lead of 35-29.

The second half started off slowly with neither team scoring the first minute and sixteen seconds. Once again, Grant Anticevich was the first Cardinal to score for the half with a contested jumper while Matt Bradley knocked down the first jump-shot of the half for Cal.

With 11 minutes left in the game, Bradley flushed a shot clock buzzer-beater to bring Cal’s lead back up to 6 with a score of 48-42. Following the shot, the Golden Bears’ defensive intensity seemed to step back up, forcing the Cardinal to run the shot clock down to zero.

Stanford pushed the ball down court in response to Cal’s newfound success and stepped up both their offensive and defensive games, shrinking the Bears’ lead to just 1 point with 9 minutes left on the clock.

The Bears widened the gap within the last 6 minutes of the game, leading the Cardinal by as many as 20 points while Stanford struggled to land a bucket.

Cal sealed the victory, defeating Stanford 76-58 in an astonishing upset. The Golden Bears will face off against the 3rd seed Colorado Buffaloes tomorrow at 8:30 p.m.

“Tomorrow's a whole new adventure, and Colorado knows he played well also,” said Bears’ Head Coach Mark Fox on Bradley’s performance. “But I think the great thing for us is that we're starting to see from Matt what we have seen in practice, but we saw it today in the game.”