Nojus Indrusaitis scored a three-point play with 17 seconds to go to help Cal complete a come-from-behind 79-73 win over Utah Tech in Berkeley on Saturday.
The Golden Bears (3-2) trailed by 11 in the second half, but started rebounding and making shots to outscore the Trailblazers (1-3) 22-4 in the final seven minutes.
The Bears took the lead for good with 1:14 left when Michael Cooper scored three of his 21 points with a 3-pointer to make it 74-71.
Ethan Potter hit a jumper for two of his 16 points for Tech to cut it to 74-71 with 45 seconds left.
Indrusaitis, who also finished with 21, followed with a jumper to make it 76-73.
Indrusaitis followed with a fallaway jumper and was fouled. He hit the free throw to make it 77-73.
Cal only managed to shoot 28-of-71 from the floor (39%) and only hit 5-for-22 3-pointers, but their defense shut down Tech in the second half to spark the big run.
Christian Gibson, who had 17 points in the first half for Tech, was held to just five points in the second half.
Owen Mackay also had 12 points for the Trailblazers.
The Trailblazers hit six 3-pointers in the first half, but could only manage two in the second half.
The Trailblazers led by nine at halftime thanks to a 15-0 run midway through the half.
Utah Tech trailed 16-11 when Potter started the run with a layup and Gibson hit a jumper.
Aaron Bliss dunked and Gibson scored on another layup to make it 20-16 with 9:11 left as Cal failed to score for more than three minutes.
Mackay and Gibson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to finish the run at 26-16 with 7:44 left in the half.
Sammie Yeanay hit a jumper and Jordan Ross nailed a 3-pointer as Cal cut the lead to 26-21.
Tech didn’t flinch, however, as Mark Brown Jr. and Aris Rodriguez hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Trailblazers their largest lead at 32-21 with 5:11 left.
Tech hit six of their first eight 3-pointers and finished the half hitting 55%. The Trailblazers outshot the Bears from the floor 48%-34%.
