Azuolas Tubelis posted his 11th double-double and four other Arizona players scored in double figures as the No. 4 Wildcats eventually pulled away from Cal for an 85-62 victory Thursday night in Berkeley, Calif.
Tubelis finished with 23 points and 14 rebounds to lead Arizona (22-3, 11-3 Pac-12) to its seventh consecutive victory. But it wasn’t a complete stroll against the last-place Bears (3-21, 2-11), who hung around for much of the second half despite failing to get closer than nine points.
Tubelis made 11 of 15 field goals and also had four steals. Fellow post player Oumar Ballo just missed a double-double with 14 points and nine boards.
Pelle Larsson scored 16 for Arizona, making all three attempts from 3-point range. Cedric Henderson Jr. added 11 points, Kylan Boswell scored 10, and Kerr Kriisa contributed eight assists.
The Bears, who trailed by 19 late in the first half, were within 58-48 with 13:18 left before a cold-shooting stretch caused them to lose touch with Arizona. Cal scored just seven points over the next 10 minutes while the Wildcats stayed hot, shooting 54.8 percent in the second half.
Sam Alajiki scored 12 points to lead Cal. Lars Thiemann had 10 points and eight rebounds.
The Wildcats have won 13 consecutive games vs. the Bears, the longest streak for either team in the series.
Arizona was dominant on the glass, outrebounding Cal 46-30 and posting a 27-3 edge in second-chance points. About the only thing that went wrong for the Wildcats was a 6-of-17 effort from the free throw line.
The tone was set early as Cal missed its first seven shots and was down 11-1 after about five minutes. The Wildcats built their advantage to 41-22 with 3:35 left, but the Bears responded with a 10-0 flurry. Larsson’s 3-pointer with 28 seconds left gave Arizona a 44-32 lead going into halftime.
–Field Level Media