Matt Bradley scored 24 points to lead host Cal to a 69-63 win over Fresno State on Wednesday night in Berkeley, Calif.
The Golden Bears (6-4) and Bulldogs exchanged leads eight times through the first 30 minutes, before Bradley knocked down the third of his three 3-pointers with 7:43 left in the game.
That shot pushed the Cal lead to seven points, one point off the game high, and the Golden Bears held off Fresno State in the final stretch.
Fresno State (2-7) held Cal without a field goal for almost five minutes after Bradley's 3-pointer, cutting the lead down to a point in that time. An Andre Kelly putback on the front-end of a missed one-and-one free-throw opportunity ended the drought and gave Cal a cushion down the stretch.
Kelly scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds. Kareem South added 17 points and shot 3-of-5 from 3-point range.
Cal scored 32 points in the paint. When the Golden Bears were not converting field goals in the lane, they were getting to the free throw line, where they shot 15-of-18. That contributed to the final margin, with Fresno State shooting 12-of-18.
A tight, back-and-forth affair ending in a close loss is nothing new for the Bulldogs. They lost in two overtimes to UNLV on Dec. 4, and fell in overtime Dec. 7 at Utah State.
Fresno State got 21 points from New Williams and 16 points from Mustafa Lawrence. Williams shot 5-of-11 from behind the 3-point line. Jarred Hyder and Orlando Robinson both added seven points.
With the win, Cal snapped a two-game losing skid and extended its perfect start at Haas Pavilion to 5-0. That home-court winning streak will be put to the test on Dec. 14 when the Golden Bears host perennial West Coast Conference contender Saint Mary's.
--Field Level Media
