It might be one of the most worn of clichés, but Oregon's loss to California 81-71 Thursday at Matthew Knight Arena was a tale of two halves.

After doing what they wanted offensively in the first half, the Ducks couldn't find their rhythm and Cal ramped up the defense leading to numerous easy baskets and the Bears escaped with a victory the Ducks desperately wanted.

The Ducks led 45-34 at halftime, but it could have been a much bigger lead. Oregon held a 14-point lead at 45-31 and had the ball with a chance to increase its lead. But Joevan Catron missed a three and the Bears' Brandon Smith nailed a three.

That six-point turnaround was enough momentum for the Bears to carry over to the second half. That was when Jorge Gutierrez took over. He scored 16 of his 23 points in the second half as the Bears outscored the home Ducks 47-26 in the final 20 minutes of the game.

Cal shot 62.5 percent from the field on 15-of-24 shooting in the second half including five three-pointers, most of which were wide open looks. But it was a free throw that gave the Bears a 58-57 lead with 9:10 left. Allen Crabbe extended the Bears' lead to four with a three 49 seconds later and the Ducks were forced to play catch-up for the rest of the game.

Teondre Williams tied the game at 65 with 4:13 left that woke up the arena, but Jorge Gutierrez silenced the crowd almost immediately on the ensuing possession with a three just 11 seconds later.

Although the Ducks made seven long distance shots, they were not falling consistently as they did last Saturday against Oregon State and the Bears made Oregon work extra hard in the second half for every point they got.

Tyrone Nared led the Ducks with 16 points, but he just had five in the second half. Catron added 14 and EJ Singler scored 11, nine of which came in the first half. Garrett Sim scored 12 and Jay-R Strowbridge, coming off a career-high 26 points, was held to just nine points and one three-pointer.

The loss was a serious blow to Oregon's chances of finishing in the upper division of the conference. At 7-8, Oregon will most likely have to play in the first night of the Pac-10 tournament, something the Ducks wanted to avoid at all costs.

The Ducks will host Stanford Saturday for Senior Day at 3 pm. Oregon has asked for a "White Out" for the last regular season game at Matthew Knight Arena and the Ducks hope it won't be the last for the 2010-11 season.