Cal Blows Golden Opportunity To Knock Off No. 6 Oregon

Cal blows golden opportunity to knock off No. 6 Oregon Cal just about wrapped up its at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament on Wednesday before blowing a 10-point lead in the final four-plus minutes against No. 6 Oregon. The Bears didn’t trail until 1:48 was remaining, and it took a Dillon Brooks buzzer-beating three-pointer to clinch the Ducks’ 68-65 victory in front of a national TV audience and a crowd of more than 10,000 at Haas Pavilion. Cal, which led by as many as 16 points, was still ahead 59-49 with 4:07 to play. [...] Oregon made three straight three-pointers to ignite 13-2 run that provided its first lead and set the stage for a thrilling finish. The Bears regained the lead on a Grant Mullins runner with 1:12 to play, but Brooks’ turnaround jumper over Stephen Domingo put Oregon up 64-63 in the final minute. Jabari Bird’s miss at the other end started the intentional foul game. Tyler Dorsey extended the Ducks’ lead to 65-63 by splitting two free-throw tries, and Cal called a timeout with 17.4 seconds on the clock. Ivan Rabb secured his 15th double-double of the season with a game-tying layup with eight seconds to play. Ca (18-9, 9-6 Pac-12) completely controlled the pace of the game and played its usual tenacious defense, but the Bears couldn’t find a way to close out the 300th game of Cal head coach Cuonzo Martin’s nine-season career. The Ducks (25-4, 14-2) have won four in a row after having their school-record, 17-game winning streak snapped during a 2-2 stretch. Oregon is among the country’s top 45 in both scoring (79.8 points per game) and field-goal shooting (48.3 percent), but Cal made it a game with one of its best defensive efforts of the season. Cal forced Oregon to miss its first seven shots from the floor, and the Ducks committed four turnovers before recorded their first assist. Bird made two three-pointers during a 12-0 run that Cal on top 17-5 midway through the first half. Brooks, a Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate, missed his first five shots from the floor. [...] after Brooks scored on back-to-back possessions, Cal responded with back-to-back three-pointers. The Bears went into the halftime break having outscored Oregon 15-0 from three-point range and sporting a 30-16 lead on the scoreboard. Brooks scored seven points during a 12-5 run that trimmed Oregon’s deficit to 37-28 fewer than six minutes into the second half. Cal was ahead by 47-34 when Brooks was forced to the bench because foul trouble with 10:06 to play, but Oregon survived playing nearly three minutes without its best player and actually had trimmed the deficit to 54-44 by the time Brooks returned to the lineup with 7:17 on the clock. Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rsimmons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron Pac-12 standings UCLA USC Oregon State