SAN JOSE, Calif. (Las Vegas Sun & AP) -- UNLV is out of the NCAA Tournament in the Round of 64 for the fourth consecutive season after losing 64-61 to Cal on Thursday evening in the HP Pavilion. The Rebels finished the year 25-10.
Cal's Allen Crabbe scored 19 points in a dominant performance that was nearly as hard as it should have been.
Golden Bears big man Robert Thurman went 6-for-7 from the field, all of them dunks. UNLV's apparent advantage inside was nowhere to be found against Cal's zone.
Anthony Marshall and Justin Hawkins end their careers 0-4 in NCAA Tournaments, after the Rebels went more than 11 minutes without scoring a field goal against Cal.
First-time tournament participants Katin Reinhardt and Bryce Dejean-Jones were a combined 9-for-29.
The Rebels never really challenged for the game in the second half despite Cal giving them every opportunity. Legitimate gripes aside — the should have been called foul with 6 seconds left that wasn't called until there were less than two — UNLV has only itself to blame. The Rebels didn't play well enough to win.
The Mountain West is now 0-2 in this year's tournament and No. 5 seeds are 0-2 in San Jose alone as Oregon picked off Oklahoma State earlier in the day.
Buoyed by the crowd support of a strong contingent so close to Berkeley, the Golden Bears (21-11) held the Runnin' Rebels (25-10) without a basket for more than 11 minutes in the second half. Cal turned a tie game into a nine-point lead during that stretch and withstood a late UNLV push for its first tournament win since 2009.
The Rebels rallied to within a point in the final seconds before missed free throws and a costly inbounds pass sealed the loss.
Bryce Dejean-Jones scored 15 points and Anthony Bennett shook off a poor start to finish with 15 points and 11 rebounds for UNLV, which beat Cal 76-75 in Berkeley on Dec. 9.
-- Taylor Bern, Las Vegas Sun
CALIFORNIA 64, UNLV 61
CALIFORNIA (21-11)
Cobbs 4-13 2-5 13, Wallace 1-6 1-4 3, Crabbe 7-15 4-5 19, Solomon 5-8 0-2 11, Kravish 3-8 0-0 6, Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Bak 0-0 0-0 0, Kreklow 0-3 0-0 0, Thurman 6-6 0-0 12. Totals 26-59 7-16 64.
UNLV (25-10)Birch 2-2 1-2 5, Marshall 1-5 5-6 7, Reinhardt 4-13 0-0 11, Dejean-Jones 5-15 3-6 15, Bennett 4-11 7-10 15, Goodman 0-3 0-0 0, Thomas 0-2 0-0 0, Hawkins 1-3 0-0 3, Moser 2-5 1-2 5. Totals 19-59 17-26 61.
Halftime_Tied 28-28. 3-Point Goals_California 5-11 (Cobbs 3-3, Solomon 1-1, Crabbe 1-4, Wallace 0-1, Kreklow 0-2), UNLV 6-20 (Reinhardt 3-8, Dejean-Jones 2-5, Hawkins 1-2, Bennett 0-1, Marshall 0-2, Moser 0-2). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_California 41 (Crabbe, Kravish 9), UNLV 42 (Bennett 11). Assists_California 18 (Cobbs 6), UNLV 11 (Marshall 6). Total Fouls_California 19, UNLV 20. A_NA.
