BERKELEY, Calif. – Returning to the road following a three-game homestand, Stanford men's basketball dropped a back-and-forth battle to rival California, 73-71, on Friday at Haas Pavilion.
Spencer Jones led four players in double figures with 13 points while Brandon Angel and Kanaan Carlyle pitched in 12 points apiece. Maxime Raynaud tallied his fourth double-double in the last five games with 11 points and 13 rebounds, while Jared Bynum and Michael Jones scored eight each and Andrej Stojakovic had seven.
The Cardinal entered the night as hottest 3-point shooting team in the country but was limited to seven triples on 29.2 percent shooting. The Cardinal made 18 of 22 free throws (81.8%) including 10 of 11 in the second half.
The Cardinal jumped out to an early 12-4 lead led by seven points from Spencer Jones over the opening 5:11 of the first half. Cal whittled down the margin to just two with seven minutes to go in the frame, and tied the game with 1:45 to play, 34-34. Stanford rallied with baskets from Bynum and Carlyle and led at the half, 40-36.
Stanford led by as many as 10 points in the second half, but Cal tallied two long runs of 10 and 11 points to take its first lead since the opening seconds of the game, 64-60, with 6:14 to go. Stanford rallied with a 6-0 run of its own, and led by one with 1:10 to go after clutch free throws from Angel. Cal responded with free throws of its own down the stretch, and Stanford's layup at the buzzer rimmed out as time expired.
Continuing on the road for a second weekend in-a-row, Stanford travels to Arizona State on Thursday, Feb. 1 for a 6 p.m. (PT) clash on ESPN2.