Oregon Falls 58-54 to Cal

The Oregon Ducks nearly overcame a disaster when junior point guard Johnathan Loyd left the court with 16.4 seconds left in the first half holding his wrist. Despite Loyd returning for the second half of the game Oregon fell short 58-54 to the Cal Bears on Saturday.

(PHOTO) Oregon Ducks guard Johnathan Loyd (10) goes up for the shot against the California Golden Bears during the second half at Haas Pavilion. The California Golden Bears defeated the Oregon Ducks 58-54. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

The loss was the second in a row for Oregon who now has an 18-4 record for the year and 7-2 in the Pac-12 race.

Cal's Justin Cobbs hit an 18-footer with 1:35 left in the game and sank a pair of free throws to ice the game in a game that saw the Ducks turn the ball over 22 times.

Oregon is playing without starting point guard Dominic Artis and the Ducks held their breath waiting at halftime wondering what the future would be without Artis or Loyd. However, playing with a heavily taped wrist, Loyd came back onto the court and played valiantly in the second half.

Cal had a big contribution from Richard Solomon, who was a force under the boards by pulling down 12 rebounds and scoring 13 points. Solomon had help from Allen Crabbe who also ended up with 13 points and Tyrone Wallace with 12.

The game was close through out the game with both teams especially good on defense. The Bears had nearly as hard a time holding onto the ball as Oregon did and recorded 14 turnovers of their own.

Oregon was paced by Tony Woods with 14 points and eight rebounds. Arsalan Kazemi pitched in 10 points in the losing effort.

For the game the Ducks shot 47.6 percent from the field to the Bears' 35.6 percent but Cal was hotter past the 3-point line hitting 4-of-17 while the Ducks only managed to connect on 2-of-16 past the arc. Both teams hit 12 free throws though Oregon had 19 attempts to Cal's 15 tries.

NOTES:

-- Oregon has lost 10 straight in the series to Cal.

-- Oregon has committed 20 or more turnovers in each of the last three games. Oregon has four games this season with at least 20 turnovers. The Ducks are 2-2 in games with 20 turnovers.

-- The Ducks have lost back-to-back games for the first time since losing to Arizona and Arizona State on March 3 and March 5 during the 2010-11 season.

-- Neither team led by more than four points until Damyean Dotson gave Oregon a six-point lead on a layup with 7:54 to play in the second half.

-- Oregon used an 11-0 run midway through the second half to build a 50-42 lead with 6:33 to play. The eight-point lead was the biggest of the game by either team.

-- Cal closed the game with a 10-0 run over the final 3:46 to claim the win.

-- Cal took 17 more shots during the game than Oregon, but made only one more.

-- Cal out-rebounded Oregon on the offensive glass 12-4.

Official Box Score

(Story compiled from AP wire reports and Oregon Athletic Department media release)