Berkeley, Calif. • Marco Anthony scored 13 points and Utah held off a late rally to knock off California, 60-58 on Saturday.
Utah picked up its second straight win after back-to-back losses to Colorado and Stanford.
Although we’ve been losing, I feel like we’ve been progressing a lot, especially these past few weeks,” Anthony said. “Just to now get over that hump, that’s big for us. Especially this time of year, it’s huge.”
Utah built a 32-24 lead at intermission and expanded it to 43-31 after Both Gach hit two free throws less than five minutes into the second half. Cal rallied and after Grant Anticevich hit a 3 and Jordan Shepherd scored a layup, the Golden Bears cut their deficit to 47-43.
The Utes answered with six straight points, but Cal battled back by hitting eight straight from the free-throw line to make it 57-55 with :19 left. Lazar Stefanovic hit two free throws for Utah before Jalen Celestine hit a 3-pointer with five seconds left.
“I just come out to win the game,” Anthony said of his performance. “That’s the mindset I have, to do whatever it takes to win. This season, leading up until now, we’ve been on that other side and there have been some obstacles, but we’re getting over that hump.”
The Utes (11-16, 4-13 Pac-12) shot 22 of 55 from the field (40%), hitting just 2 of 14 shots from beyond the 3-point arc.
Lars Thiemann scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead California (11-17, 4-13). Jalen Celestine and Kuany Kuany each added 10 points.
Utah returns home to play No. 3 Arizona on Thursday.
California plays host to Stanford Saturday.
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