Cal hands No. 10 Oregon 2nd straight loss, 58-54

(AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

By RICK EYMER

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) Arsalan Kazemi held his breath for a moment when he saw Oregon point guard Johnathan Loyd hit the ground hard late in the first half and wince in pain.

Loyd was playing in place of starter Dominic Artis, an Oakland native who missed his second straight game with a left foot injury.

"When I saw him go down I got nervous," Kazemi said. "That would have left us with one point guard. I was glad he got back into the game."

It was just one of several things that went wrong for No. 10 Oregon in its 58-54 loss to California on Saturday.

Loyd had his sore right thumb tightly taped for the second half. He was unable to rally his teammates, though.

Tony Woods had 14 points and eight rebounds for Oregon but failed to get off a potential tying shot after grabbing E.J. Singler's missed 3-pointer with 5.2 seconds left. The Ducks (18-4, 7-2 Pac-12) were held scoreless over the final 4 minutes after holding a 50-42 advantage with 6:33 remaining.

"We got the look we wanted. We just didn't get it," Ducks coach Dana Altman said after Oregon's first two-game losing streak. "Tony did a great job getting the board. I feel bad for the guys, they played hard. We had a six-point lead with 3 (minutes) to play and we never got any stops."

The Ducks, held to their lowest two point totals of the season this weekend, also had 22 turnovers, and Woods got the only four offensive rebounds.

"Twenty-two turnovers on the road, that's a formula for a loss," Woods said. "We've averaged a lot of turnovers lately and that's a big negative. We just have to get better. We need D.A. healthy and we need to cut out the turnovers."

Altman wasn't blaming the point guard situation for all the miscues.

"It's everybody," he said. "A couple of our turnovers started fast breaks for them. Turnovers and second-chance points made the difference. We just need to bounce back."

Loyd has played in every game this season but made just his seventh start.

"He was all heart for us," Woods said. "He's always been a leader. He landed on his finger and then played through it. That's heart."

Justin Cobbs made an 18-foot jumper with 1:35 remaining and then added a pair of free throws as California hung on to beat a top 10 team at home for the first time in seven years.

Allen Crabbe and Richard Solomon scored 13 points apiece, and Tyrone Wallace added 12 while helping the Golden Bears (13-8, 5-4) win back-to-back games for the first time since December.

The frantic finish was in stark contrast to the first 35 minutes of the game when both teams struggled to find any kind of offensive rhythm.

Oregon shot 47.6 percent from the floor but made only one real solid run in the second half when the Ducks scored 11 straight to take a 50-42 lead.

That turned out to be the lone highlight of the week for Altman's team. Oregon, which jumped six spots in the rankings this week, lost to Stanford 76-52 on Thursday.

Suddenly the conference race is a lot more crowded.

Oregon will still maintain at least a share of the lead in the Pac-12 but there are five other teams sticking close. Arizona and Arizona State, which began the day one game behind the Ducks, played later Saturday.

Cal is certainly in the mix following its 10th consecutive win over Oregon.

Updated February 2, 2013