A lead at the half, a double-digit deficit at the end. It happened in January in Berkeley, it happened again in Tempe Sunday as Cal fell to the Sun Devils by a final of 69-59. Cal lead 34-28 at halftime, but 12-15 shooting for Arizona State coming out of the half doomed the Bears to a record 16th consecutive loss.

Cal now stands at 5-22 (0-15 in conference play) while Arizona State is 19-8 (10-5 in the Pac-12)

The 1st Half Key Points

- Cal started the first half aggressive in the paint, with six offensive rebounds in the first four minutes. That led to 8 total offensive rebounds in the opening frame, along with a 23-18 edge in rebounds in the first half against the top rebounding team in the conference.

- Cal's 2-3 zone also played well against the Sun Devils in the first frame, slowing ASU into halfcourt sets and forcing 26% shooting from the field (21% from 3). Cal shot 40% in the first half, along with 44% shooting from beyond the arc.

- Cal also capitalized off turnovers in the first half, turning 7 ASU turnovers into 11 points (ASU turned 9 Cal TOs into four points)

- Grant Anticevich gave the Bears a big spark in the first half, with 6 points (2-2 from 3), 4 rebounds and an assist, finding Justice Sueing on a backdoor cut. He also blocked a shot in helping the Bears take a lead.

- An interesting series of events that helped the Bears take a six point lead into the half. Darius McNeill answered a Taeshon Cherry three with one of his own, then Matt Bradley drew an offensive foul on Luguentz Dort with 0.3 seconds left. Bradley hit both free throws and the Bears had a 6 point lead, bigger than the two point lead they held in the Berkeley matchup.

The Turning Point

- An 8-8 start to the second half for Arizona State, started with a couple back cuts leading to Dort dunk, then a De'quan Lake and-1 dunk over Bradley. Bradley came right back with a 3, but buckets by Zylan Cheatham, Dort, and Rob Edwards gave ASU a 40-37 lead which they wouldn't relinquish

- Paris Austin hit two free throws to make it 39-40, but Cheatham and Edwards took ASU on a 6-0 run.

- Edwards hit two threes in a row to extend the lead to 12, putting a bow on a 28-10 stretch for the Sun Devils in 10:05 of the second half.

- Cal went to man during this stretch to try to stem the Arizona State run, but it was unsuccessful, especially when combined with 7 turnovers in the first ten minutes of the second half.

Final Stretch:

- While Matt Bradley went wild over the final 9 minutes of the game, scoring 13 of his career high 23, they couldn't stop Arizona State, who got points from Dort, Remy Martin, Edwards, and Kimani Lawrence

- Cal also shot 8-24 from the field in the second half, including a dreadful 3-13 from inside the three point arc. That coincided with only 3 assists in the half, after 8 in the first.

A Commendation or Two

- Two commendations have to be given for this game on the Cal side, first to Matt Bradley, for his first ever double-double. Bradley had 23 points and 10 rebounds on 8-13 shooting (5-7 from beyond the arc)

- The second goes to Grant Anticevich, who didn't score in the second half, but energized the team while in on offense and defense. Anticevich finished with 6 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and two blocks while playing 24 minutes. Anticevich does a lot of little things right, like setting solid screens and finding cutters.

What's Next:

Cal gets the Pac-12 regular season champion in Washington 8 PM Thursday night, then a 4 PM Saturday date with Washington State. Both games are at home