Pirates Upset Bid Over Cal Falls Just Short
November 21, 2015 | Men's Basketball
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BERKELEY, Calif. (AP)- Ivan Rabb had 14 points and 13 rebounds, Jaylen Brown added 16 points and 10 rebounds and No. 14 California beat East Carolina 70-62 in the Las Vegas Invitational on Friday night.
Coming off lopsided wins over Rice and Santa Barbara, the Bears struggled most of the night against the Pirates 2-3 zone, sputtered in transition and committed 15 turnovers, including 10 in the first half.
Cal didn't shake the pesky Pirates until late in the second half.
''We just didn't move the ball well. We got stagnant,'' said Tyrone Wallace, who had 20 points and has led the Bears in scoring in all three games this season. ''We didn't do as well as we would have liked to on offense. But never once did we have our head down.''
The Bears trailed midway through the first half before pulling away late in the first-ever meeting between the schools.
Rabb was at the center of Cal's surge.
The highly touted freshman scored on a pair of emphatic dunks in the first 5 minutes of the second half. He also converted a key three-point play, and then had an assist on a backdoor layup for Bird with 1:52 remaining.
Rabb went 5 of 7 from the floor and added a season-high five blocks in his second double-double of the year.
Michael Zangari matched his career high of 17 points for East Carolina.
Zangari had made just two 3-pointers in his previous three years at East Carolina but matched that in the first half against Cal. Zangari went into the night averaging 3.5 points a game but gave the Pirates a much-needed offensive boost and went 2 of 5 from beyond the arc.
Cal got off to a sloppy start on both ends of the court, allowing East Carolina to stay close despite shooting 29.6 percent in the first half.
ECU used its zone defense to limit Cal to 3-for-23 from beyond the arc.
''That (zone) defense had a lot to do with it,'' California Head Coach Cuonzo Martin said.
Wallace had five turnovers but made up for it with a big second half when he scored 10 of Cal's final 19 points.
East Carolina kept it close behind another strong game from leading scorer Caleb White. White had 15 points, including seven straight during a 57-second span in the second half.
''We got good looks against a switching man-to-man defense, which is hard to play against,'' ECU Head Coach Jeff Lebo said. ''We just didn't shoot it as well as we would have liked.''
East Carolina continues play in the Las Vegas Invitational Monday at San Diego State.
