Paris Austin hit two free throws with three seconds remaining Sunday afternoon, breaking a tie and allowing host California to stun rival Stanford 52-50 in men's basketball, knocking the Cardinal out of first place in the Pac-12.
Matt Bradley saved nine of his 14 points for a second-half surge for the Golden Bears (9-10, 3-3), who earned a split of the two-game season series with their San Francisco Bay Area neighbor for the second straight season.
The Cardinal (15-4, 4-2) had won the earlier matchup 68-52 on their home court.
Austin's game-winning foul shots came after each team had failed to score on two possessions apiece after Stanford's Bryce Wills had forged a 50-all tie with 1:55 to play.
Cal got its decisive possession when Joel Brown stole the ball from Stanford's Daejon Davis with 26 seconds to go. The Golden Bears then called a timeout, setting up Austin's decisive move, on which he was fouled by Davis.
The Cardinal then failed to get off a shot before time expired.
Stanford led the rematch 39-28 before Cal scored 17 of the game's next 19 points, storming into a 45-41 lead on a layup by Andre Kelly with 5:24 to go.
Bradley had two- and 3-point hoops as well as four free throws in the flurry.
A three-point play by Tyrell Terry stopped the bleeding for Stanford and got the visitors within one with still 5:04 to play, and the Cardinal were able to draw even at 50-all on Wills' layup with 1:55 to go, setting up the exciting finish.
After Cal bolted out to a 7-0 lead and Stanford countered with 16 of the game's next 22 points, the final seven minutes of the first half were played on relatively even terms, with the Cardinals claiming a 23-21 edge at the break.
The margin was just one at 27-26 in the fourth minute of the second half before Stanford made its big push, scoring nine straight points to open the game's first double-digit lead. Davis had two hoops and assisted two others in the run.
A 3-pointer by Isaac White with 12:01 remaining pushed the Stanford lead to 11 at 39-28 before Cal rallied.
Austin led Cal with 15 points, while Kareem South added 13. Grant Anticevich chipped in with a game-high eight rebounds.
The Golden Bears, who improved to 9-2 at home overall and 3-0 at home in conference play, won despite shooting just 32.7 and making just three of their 12 3-point shots.
Stanford was just 2-for-12 from beyond the arc.
Oscar da Silva had a team-high 13 points and seven rebounds for Stanford, which opened conference play 4-0 but has since dropped two straight.
Davis finished with 12 points and Tyrell Terry 11 for the Cardinal, who shot 44.2 percent.
--Field Level Media
Stanford | California | |
Oscar Da Silva 13 | Scoring | Paris Austin 15 |
Daejon Davis 2 | Assists | Paris Austin 4 |
Oscar Da Silva 7 | Rebounds | Grant Anticevich 8 |
Tyrell Terry 5 | Free Throws Made | Paris Austin 7 |
Daejon Davis 1 | Steals | Paris Austin 2 |
Oscar Da Silva 2 | Blocks | Andre Kelly 3 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Stanford | 50 | 44.2 | 2-12 | 10-15 | 5 | 30 | 5 | 2 | 15 |
California | 52 | 32.7 | 3-12 | 13-17 | 9 | 26 | 4 | 7 | 7 |