California Golden Bears vs Colorado Buffaloes Box Score on Mar 11, 2021

Evan Battey scored 15 points, McKinley Wright IV added 10 and 23rd-ranked Colorado beat Cal 61-58 on Thursday night in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals at Las Vegas.

The third-seeded Buffaloes (21-7) will play second-seeded Southern California in the semifinals on Friday night. The 24th-ranked Trojans outlasted Utah 91-85 in double overtime Thursday.

Grant Anticevich had 11 points and Matt Bradley scored 10 before fouling out for the Bears (9-20). Cal's Makale Foreman missed a 3-point attempt in the closing seconds that would have sent the game into overtime.

Joel Brown's jumper gave the Bears a 27-26 lead early in the second half.

Eli Parquet replied with a layup for Colorado. Battey hit two free throws, scored on a layup and then fed Horne for another layup as the Buffaloes built a 34-28 lead. Cal went cold from the field and needed free throws to stay within striking distance.

Bradley, the Bears' leading scorer, was held scoreless until he was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws with 11:22 left, pulling Cal within 41-33.

Colorado's D'Shawn Schwartz answered with a 3-pointer, but D.J. Thorpe completed a three-point play after his layup was Cal's first field goal in more than six minutes.

Battey's three-point play put Colorado up 50-37 with 8:55 remaining, and Wright soon hit a layup to restore the 13-point lead, but the Bears worked their way back into it.

Bradley hit a jumper and a 3-pointer around a 3-pointer by Ryan Betley, slicing the deficit to 53-49 with 3:52 left. Bradley fouled out on Schwartz's layup with 3:28 left.

It was 61-52 with 1:05 remaining, but the Bears' Jalen Celestine hit three free throws, and after a Colorado turnover, he sank a corner 3-pointer with 41 seconds left, cutting the gap to three.

Wright stumbled on a drive in the lane to give Cal a chance to tie, but Foreman couldn't connect from long distance.

The Buffaloes didn't score for the first 4:03 of the game but used a stingy defense to keep Cal close. Their 10-4 run late in the first half gave them a 24-20 lead entering the break.

--Field Level Media