Wildcats’ pick-six late dooms Bears

TUCSON — Of course, Saturday night’s game went down to the wire.

Twenty-three of the first 33 meetings between Cal and Arizona were decided by one possession (eight points or fewer), and No. 34 in the series added to the list.

Scottie Young Jr. intercepted a Brandon McIlwain pass with less than 3½ minutes on the clock and returned it 24 yards for a touchdown that was the difference in Arizona’s 24-17 victory in front of 44,253 in town for family weekend and a Pac-12 matchup that could go a long way toward defining the teams’ seasons.

Cal (3-2, 0-2 Pac-12) needed to take advantage of a soft schedule to start October that includes games at Arizona, against UCLA and at Oregon State, which came into the

weekend a combined 3-11, to return to the postseason. Instead, the Bears lost their 14th straight conference road game and likely will be searching for a sixth victory to make them bowl-eligible during the season’s final weeks.

Arizona (3-3, 2-1) rediscovered

some of quarterback Khalil Tate’s magic in putting itself back in the mix among a wide-open South Division race. Still limping on a sprained left ankle, Tate was able to throw for 141 yards and run for 40 more and, most importantly, the junior quarterback committed just one turnover.

In his first start for Cal, McIlwain ran 20 times for 107 yards and completed 32-of-43 passes for 315 yards, but he fumbled once and threw three interceptions, including two that were returned for touchdowns.

For the first time this season, Cal failed to score first. In fact, the Bears fell behind 10-0 on a 31-yard pass from Tate to Tony Ellison and a 46-yard field goal by Josh Pollack. But after allowing 111 yards and 10 points on the Wildcats’ first two possessions, Cal allowed only 43 yards in keeping Arizona off the board for the half ’s final 16-plus minutes. Meanwhile, McIlwain was getting the Bears’ offense in rhythm. He went 14-of-18 for 123 passing yards and accounted for 80 of Cal’s 94 rushing yards in the first half.

Oh yeah, and he scored

both of the Bears’ touchdowns. The first was a 25yarder on which he made Colin Schooler miss in the backfield and outran Young Jr. to the end zone. The second was a 23-yarder on which he ran right through the teeth of an eight-man box for a 14-10 halftime lead.

The score stayed that way until the closing four minutes of the third quarter when Arizona took a 17-14 lead on a wacky play. Schooler intercepted a McIlwain pass at the 16-yard line and returned it to about midfield, where Jeremiah Hawkins punched the ball out of Schooler’s hands. The ball bounded high into the air and forward about 15 yards, and Azizi Hearn picked it up in stride and raced 34 yards for a touchdown with 3:19 remaining on the third-quarter clock.

Instead of taking a chipshot field goal that would have tied the game with more than 12 minutes remaining, Cal went for it on a 4th-and-1 situation from the 3-yard line. Running off a shotgun snap, McIlwain got yanked down for no gain by 306-pound defensive lineman Dereck Boles.

The Bears’ defense gave

their offense another opportunity with Luc Bequette forcing a fumble that Ashtyn Davis recovered at the Cal 45-yard line with 8½ minutes left. After a false start to open the possession, McIlwain overthrew 6-foot-7 Ian Bunting with a pass that got picked off by Young.

After Pollack missed a 40yard field-goal attempt, Cal drove into Arizona territory, but McIlwain committed his third turnover during a 14minute span. This time it was a fumble forced on a sack by J.B. Brown and recovered by Boles with 5:19 remaining.

Following a quick threeand-out, Cal had another chance to tie it or take the lead, but McIlwain threw the interception that clinched it for Arizona. Greg Thomas added a late field goal for Cal, but the Bears weren’t able to recover an onside kick with 12 seconds left.

Tate took a knee from victory formation, and Arizona celebrated the close win.

Of course.

Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rsimmons@sfchronicle. com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron