Cal Basketball: Bears Scare No. 21 Seton Hall but Lose

Bears held a five-point lead with 4:37 to go but could not hang on

Cal gave No. 21 Seton Hall a scare, but could not get the critical bucket in a 62-59 loss to the Pirates on Wednesday in the third-place game of the Fort Myers Tip-Off event in Fort Myers, Fla.

It was easily Cal's best performance of the season.

"I thought we played really, really well," Cal coach Mark Fox said in the video atop this story. "We just didn't close it

Andre Kelly scored 23 points on 7-for-8 shooting for Cal (2-4), but the key player in the second half was Cal's Grant Anticevich. He finished with 15 points, and he scored 10 points in a span of 1:43 to give the Bears a five-point lead with 4:23 to go.

Seton Hall battled back and held a one-point lead in the final minute. Cal trailed by a point when Anticevich attempted a three-point shot with eight seconds left.  His shot rimmed out, but the Bears got the shot they wanted.

"Yep, we did," Fox said. "Grant's a great shooter and I want him to take that shot every time. I thought we executed it well, it just didn't go in."

Cal limited Seton Hall (4-1) to 34 percent shooting, and the Bears were able to slow the pace of the game to their liking. The Bears shot 44.1 percent from the floor, but two statistics hurt Cal: committed 14 turnovers to just six for Seton Hall, and the Pirates attempted 30 free throws (making 24) while Cal shot 15 foul shots (making 11).

"We have to learn to defend without fouling," Fox said. "You can't get outscored by 13 at the line and give a team 30 free throws and overcome that. We made five more field goals than they did and lost.

The Bears lost to No. 23 Florida 80-60 on Monday, dropping the Bears into the consolation game against Seton Hall, which lost to Ohio State 79-76 the same day.

Cal fell behind by seven points four minutes into the second half, but the Bears rallied to take the lead 39-38 at the 12:34 mark on a fast-break basket by Jordan Shepherd. That hoop came just 17 seconds after the Bears' Jalen Celestine hit a three-pointer from the corner to bring the Bears within a point.

Another Shepherd hoop increased Cal's lead to three points with 11:14 to go. and the lead grew to five points a minute later. Cal finished off the 10-0 run to get its biggest lead at 44-38 with 9:17 to go.

Seton Hall then reeled off eight straight points ,with Tyrese Samuel's follow shot putting the Pirates back on top 46-44 with 7:11 left.

That's when Anticevich caught fire. He scored 10 points in a span of 1:43 to help Cal take a 56-51 lead with 4:37 remaining.

Seton Hall surged back and led 59-58 at the 1:44 mark and held a 60-59 advantage with 1:05 left when Alexis Yetna hit one of two free throws.

Kelly was outstanding in the first half, which ended with Seton Hall holding a 27-25 lead.

Kelley scored 15 points in the first half, going 6-for-6 from the field and 3-for-3 from the foul line. He also had six rebounds before halftime.

However, the rest of the Cal team was just 5-for-18 from the floor, and that included 0-for-4 shooting from three-points rage. The Bears also committed seven first-half turnovers, compared with one turnover for Seton Hall in the first 20 minutes.

Seton Hall led for most of the first half, and had an eight-point advantage with 8:17 left in the half. But Cal was able to slow the pace of the game, and the Pirates got cold from the field. Seton Hall missed 12 of its last 13 shots of the half, and finished the half shooting just 27 percent.  That included 1-for-10 on three-point shots in the first half.

Cal tied the scorer 23-23 on a Jordan Shepherd's jumper at the 3:28 mark of the first half, and Kelly tied the score again with a pair of free throws with 2:29 to go.

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Cover photo of Cal head coach Mark Fox is by Cody Glenn, USA TODAY Sports

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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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