Oumar Ballo leads charge as Arizona powers past Cal
Oumar Ballo had a season-high 22 points and 13 rebounds to power Arizona to a 91-65 win over California on Thursday night at McKale Center.
The double-double was Ballo’s sixth of the season and third in UA’s past six games, as well as the 21st of his career. The 22 points was the most he scored since he dropped 24 on Stanford in the Pac-12 Tournament last season.
Keshad Johnson added 15 points and five rebounds for UA, which shot 50.8% and kept California to 37.1% shooting.
Up 48-28 at halftime, Arizona never trailed by less than 17 in the second half while riding its top eight rotation until the final five minutes, after which deep reserves Filip Borovicanin, Paulius Murauskas and Conrad Martinez entered the game.
While the Wildcats put the Bears away during the second half, the Pac-12 Networks broadcast winked out for about a five-minute stretch, for what broadcaster Ted Robinson indicated was a power outage near the network’s Bay area studios.
With 18 points and 10 rebounds in just 18 minutes so far, Oumar Ballo now has his sixth double-double of the season (21st in his career) and third in the past six games.
In the first half, Ballo had 11 points and eight rebounds over just 10 minutes to help Arizona take a 48-28 halftime lead.
Caleb Love added nine points and six rebounds for the Wildcats, who shot 56.3% from the field while holding Cal to just 35.5%. Johnson added 10 points and three rebounds for UA, while Jalen Celestine had eight to lead Cal.
Although not quite with the force that put them on a 20-2 early run over Cal en route to their 100-81 win over Cal on Dec. 29 at Haas Pavilion, Arizona went on a 12-2 run over the middle of the first half and took leads as high as 23 points before halftime.
After Love sank an 18-footer on Arizona’s first possession, the Wildcats pounded the ball inside to Ballo, who had nine of Arizona’s first 14 points, including a three-point play to give UA an early 12-3 lead.
During the Wildcats’ 12-2 run, Love and KJ Lewis both hit 3-pointers while Kylan Boswell drove through the Cal defense for a layup that put the Widlcats head 29-11.
Through the first eight minutes, Arizona held Cal to just 4 for 13 shooting, including 1 of 5 from within the 3-point arc.
Arizona led most of the final 10 minutes by 20 or more points, and Love missed a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer that could have given UA a 23-point lead.
Arizona (16-5, 7-3) entered Thursday in a first-place tie atop the Pac-12 with Oregon (14-6, 6-3), which is playing at USC later Thursday evening.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Oumar Ballo leads charge as Arizona powers past Cal
