BERKELEY — Cal fought back from a 14-point second-half deficit but could not close out a season sweep of UCLA on Saturday afternoon in the final meeting of the in-state rivals before they head off to new conferences next season.
The Bruins (13-11, 8-5 Pac-12) prevailed 61-60 in a game that had four lead changes in the final 1:05, preventing the Bears (10-14, 6-7) from winning for the fifth time in their past six games in front of 9,280 fans at Haas Pavilion.
UCLA won its fifth straight game and is 7-2 since losing to the Bears at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 6.
Cal has not swept both games in a season against the Bruins since the 2011-12 season, and won’t get the chance anytime soon. The Bears will play in the ACC next season while UCLA moves to the Big Ten.
Fardaws Aimaq put the Bears in front 55-53 on a putback of his own miss with 1:05 left before the Bruins called timeout. They went right to big man Adem Bona, who scored from the post and converted a free throw for a 56-55 lead with 50.4 seconds left.
Aimaq then tipped in a miss by Jaylon Tyson, giving the lead back to Cal with 45 seconds left. But guard Dylan Andrews sunk a mid-range jumper and UCLA was back in front 58-55 with 25.3 seconds left.
Tyson, who led the Bears with 16 points, missed on a contested drive to the basket and Lazar Stefanovic made two free throws for a 60-57 lead with 16.4 seconds left. Sebastian Mack inched the lead to four points by making the second of two free throws with 4.5 seconds to play.
Cal’s Jalen Celestine made a running 3-pointer with 0.1 seconds left.
The Bears trailed 50-41 when Tyson triggered an 8-0 run that pulled them within a point.
He scored on a backdoor dunk off a pass from Aimaq then returned the favor, assisting Aimaq on a 3-point basket. Finally, he fed Jalen Celestine for a 3-pointer that made it 50-49 with 5:56 to play.
Tyson’s jump shot with 3:05 left put the Bears up 51-50, their first lead since 7-3. Stefanovic answered with a 3-pointer or the Bruins but two free throws by Aimaq tied the score at 53-all with 2:20 remaining.
The Bruins led 35-24 at halftime as the Bears shot just 36 percent (8 for 22) in the opening 20 minutes. Tyson scored 10 points for Cal but his teammates combined to make just 5 of 17 shots as the Bears wound up with their lowest-scoring first half of the season.
UCLA erased an early 7-6 Cal lead with an 11-0 run during which time the Bears missed three shots and turned the ball over three times against pressure. The lead swelled to 19-10 when Andrews made two free throws, capping a 15-2 surge with 11:42 left.
The Bears pulled within 22-16 on a layup by Aimaq with 8:36 left but the Bruins built their advantage to 29-16 with an 8-0 run that included a 3-pointer by Stefanovic.