Cal triumphs over RU 66-52

The Scarlet Knights suffered their first loss of the young season, going down to the Cal bears 66-52, before an announced crowd of 4,458 in Haas Pavilion, in Berkeley, CA. The victory is Cal's biggest going back to January 10th 1992, when the Bears defeated then-#2 Stanford.

The Scarlet Knights went down Friday evening, suffering their first loss of the season at the hands of Cal (3-0). Rutgers (2-1) trailed the entire way and though they would reduce the lead to 15 points inside 10 minutes left in the second stanza, they had little left down the stretch to cut the deficit any further.

Rutgers struggled offensively all night and was battling foul trouble from the opening tip-off. Epiphany Prince was called for a pair of early fouls and by the end of the night, the Scarlet Knights had been called for a total of 26 personal fouls to Cal's 9. Despite the lopsided number of fouls called, Rutgers was still in the game at intermission, trailing 28-20.

Alexis Gray-Lawson led Cal with 25 points while Ashley Walker went 5-10 from the field and chipped in 15 additional points.

Rutgers was down by as many as 28 points in the second half, due to an offense that could not find its rhythm and a transition defense that allowed multiple fast break opportunities. April Sykes poured some offensive life into the Scarlet Knights by helping RU cut the lead to 58-43. Sykes lead all RU scorers with 18 points on 7-12 shooting, including 4 treys.

RU's vaunted defense made an appearance after they had sustained a biggest deficit of 28 points in the second half. Their suffocating presence, in part due to Sykes' shooting allowing for its setup, helped propel RU back within striking distance. RU forced a number of turnovers during a several minute span that cut the Bears lead to 15.

However, Cal, as it did all game continued to put the ball in the basket and answered RU's points with some of their own. For the game, the Bears shot 48% from the floor. Cal was also awarded 25 free throw attempts while making 17, while RU had the opportunity for only a trio of free throws for the entire contest.

Rutgers shot a shade under 39% for the game and 43.8% from beyond the three-point line.