Nov 20, 2001
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - Shantay Legans scored 13 points, including five free throws in the final 50 seconds of the game, to lead five California players in double figures as the Bears held off Santa Clara 67-60 Tuesday.
Brian Wethers and Ryan Forehan-Kelly added 12 points apiece, while Solomon Hughes and Joe Shipp added 11 points apiece for the Bears (3-0), who overcame a terrible shooting performance from the perimeter. California missed its first 16 3-point attempts and finished the game just 4-for-32 from beyond the arc.
Kyle Bailey scored 11 points and had eight rebounds to pace Santa Clara (0-2).
"Kyle has not been as consistent as we would like and he knows that," said Davey. "(Bakari Altheimer) gave us a good game tonight at the point guard position. He really showed something tonight because Cal's guards are quick and hard to defend."
California led 34-31 at halftime then slowly pulled away from the Broncos in the second half, building a 60-44 lead with just under six minutes left to play. But Santa Clara, which won 20 games last season for the third time under head coach Dick Davey, came back to pull within six points of the Bears on Kyle Bailey's 3-pointer with 1:05 remaining.
"Cal went inside more in the second half, which was probably a good move on their part because we didn't do as well in defending them as we would have liked," said Davey. "Cal has a good team. They are athletic and they create some problems with their defense. When they are shooting the ball well, they are going to give a lot of teams a tough time."
The Broncos could get no closer, however, as Legans, just 3-for-10 from the field, iced the game for California by hitting five of six free throws.
Santa Clara travels to Seattle for a second-straight game against a Pacific-10 Conference opponent when it plays Washington Saturday at 1 p.m.