Gueye, Bamba lead WSU Cougars past Cal 63-57

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Mouhamed Gueye had 20 points and 10 rebounds, TJ Bamba scored 19 points, and WSU defeated California 63-57 on Saturday for the Cougars’ fifth straight win.

WSU 63, Cal 57: Box score

Cal made only four field goals in the first eight minutes of the second half but was able to tie the score at 39 on a pair of free throws by Kuany Kuany with 11:22 remaining. The Cougars did not surrender the lead and a jumper by Gueye gave them a 53-44 lead with 4:37 left. A dunk by Bamba made it 57-47 with 1:37 to go and his free throws at 1:02 gave the Cougars their largest lead, 59-48.

The score was tied four times but the Cougars (15-15, 10-9 Pac-12) never trailed.

.@WSUCougarMBB’s victory over Cal extends the Cougs’ win streak to 5! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/poqfoHOv1I

— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) February 26, 2023

Joel Brown had 13 points, nine assists and seven rebounds for the Golden Bears (3-26, 2-16). Kuany had 11 points and nine rebounds, and Monty Bowser scored 10 points. Cal, which had a 12-game losing streak earlier in the season, has now last 13 in a row.

Shooting statistics were similar for both teams. Cal hit on 37% to WSU’s 33%. The Cougars made 6 of 25 3-pointers (24%) to Cal’s 5 of 18 (28%). WSU made 21 of 26 free throws (81%) and Cal hit on 14 of 18 (78%).

Gueye, who finished with a Pac-12 best 14th double-double of the season, had 11 points to help Washington State grab a 29-26 at halftime.

Washington State completed a sweep of the Bay Area schools in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1981-1983, when current WSU radio broadcaster Craig Ehlo played under coach George Raveling.

UP NEXT

WSU: The Cougars travel to play Washington on Thursday to close out the regular season.

California: The Golden Bears end the regular season with road games at Oregon on Thursday and Oregon State on Saturday.

Thursday: WSU Cougars beat Stanford 67-63