Kansas State University Athletics
Kansas State University
4-2
California
6-1
Wildcats Fall at California, 78-48
Nov 29, 2006 | Men's Basketball
BERKELEY, Calif. Cartier Martin scored 16 points and Jason Bennett tied the school blocked shots record with six, but cold shooting continued to plague the Wildcats as Kansas State suffered a 78-48 loss to California Wednesday night at Haas Pavilion.
Lance Harris added 14 points and was the only other Wildcat in double figures as Kansas State (4-2) shot just 34 percent from the floor and committed 14 turnovers in their first loss in six games against the Golden Bears.
Ryan Anderson paced the Bears with 15 points and California (6-1) got 14 points from Ayinde Ubaka and 12 from DeVon Hardin for its fifth straight win.
Kansas State actually hung tough in the early going and trailed 22-21 with just over seven minutes to go in the first half.
But the Wildcats went cold from the field down the stretch of the opening period and Cal hit the K-State with a 15-2 run to take a 37-23 lead at the half.
Martin and Harris combined to score the first five points out of the locker room and Kansas State sliced the Cal lead to 37-28 to open the second half.
But the Bears, who turned the ball over just eight times and outrebound the Wildcats by three, once again had an answer as Anderson, Hardin and Ubaka combined for 13 points during an 18-6 Cal run that made it 55-34 with 10:24 to go.
Three straight 3-pointers and a pair of free throws by Theo Robertson gave Cal its largest lead of the game at 77-42 at the 3:03 mark before the Wildcats rallied in the closing minutes behind two buckets by Delvez Yerby and a jumper by Chris Merriewether to provide the final margin.
Kansas State continues its two-game Western swing on Saturday, when the Wildcats take on Colorado State in Fort Collins at 4 p.m.
