Andrej Stojakovic Goes For 37, But Stanford Ends Cal's Season

Shorthanded Bears finish 14-19 after a 78-73 loss in the second round of the ACC tournament

Andrej Stojakovic tries to get past a Stanford defender / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

The Cal basketball season ended Wednesday night, just as the Golden Bears became a must-see attraction and star sophomore Andrej Stojakovic became borderline unstoppable.

Shorthanded with two starters sidelined by injury, the Bears got a career-high 37-point performance by Stojakovic and a clutch effort from DJ Campbell but could not overcome rival Stanford, falling 78-73 at Charlotte, NC, in a second-round game at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

*** Stojakovic, who averaged 26 points in three games against Stanford, talks in the video about playing his old school.

The Bears (14-19) played six overtimes in two games over the previous four days, but they showed no signs of fatigue while holding the lead for nearly 19 minutes minutes.

Cal came within a couple possessions of becoming the first No. 15 seed to win two games at the ACC tournament, but wound up losing a third straight time to the seventh-seeded Cardinal (20-12), which kept alive its faint hope of securing an NCAA tournament bid.

Stanford takes on No. 13 Louisville (25-6) in a quarter-final game Thursday.

Cal coach Mark Madsen whose team improved its win total by one over last season, credited Stanford with making key plays with the game on the line.

“That being said, I love these guys. I love Andrej, I love DJ, I love everybody in our locker room,” Madsen said. “You talk about warriors, guys that battle the entire night. 

"It’s been a little bit the story of our season. We’ve had a couple different waves or rashes of injury and when that happens it’s next man up. We gave ourselves a chance to win.”

In this case, Cal played without ACC all-freshman pick Jeremiah Wilkinson — who averages 15.1 points and scored 36 in the 112-110 four-overtime loss at Notre Dame on Saturday — and senior point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr.

Wilkinson was shelved by a concussion he sustained in the Bears’ 82-73 double-overtime win vs. Virginia Tech on Tuesday night. Blacksher, the Bears’ third-leading scorer at 10.5 points, was out with an undisclosed injury.

Small forward Rytis Petraitis, listed beforehand as a game-time decision with a sprained ankle, started played 36 minutes. Christian Tucker got just his fifth start of the year and contributed four steals. Starters played all but 27 minutes, although sophomore guard Vladimir Pavlovic, who had been on the floor for just 3 minutes all season, got 10 minutes of run.

Even so, Madsen said his team did not wear down. "We definitely had enough in the tank," he said. "This team is full of guys just with the heart of a lion and that showed tonight."

Campbell, the team’s sixth man in recent weeks, returned to the starting lineup for the first time in more than a month and provided 19 points and 10 rebounds. 

Stojakovic seemed determined to take up the slack all by himself early, hitting his first seven shots to score 16 points in the opening 9 1/2 minutes as Cal mounted a 22-14 advantage. He didn’t score again in the half and Stanford used a 9-0 run to take a 38-30 lead into intermission.

“He was a one-man band at the start,” Stanford coach Kyle Smith said. “I was worried (when) he got his first basket — it was a tough turnaround in the lane. He’s a scorer and I think that hoop just looked big to him. I was like, `I think we’ll contain him.’ But I was wrong. He kept it going.”

The Bears made some halftime adjustments after Stanford had sharpened its attention on Stojakovic and he scored 21 second-half points, including 10 in a row that gave Cal a 58-56 lead with 10:10 to go.

Stanford kept coming, led by 23 points from Maxime Raynaud and 21 from Jaylen Blakes. Former walk-on Benny Gealer put the Cardinal in front for good when he sank an open 3-pointer for a 71-68 lead with 1:21 left.

Stojakovic hit a jumper and a 3-pointer, each time bringing the Bears within point. But after the latter, Stanford’s Chisom Okpara leaked out for a dunk with 10 seconds left for a 76-73 lead.

Cal center Mady Sissoko, who had 11 points and eight rebounds, was whistled for an illegal screen and Raynaud iced the game by converting two free throws with 4.4 seconds left.

Stojakovic posted his 13th game of at least 20 points and over the past three games totaled scored 87 points while playing 130 minutes. 

Cal pounded Stanford on the boards, forging a 34-21 rebounding advantage. The Bears had 13 offensive rebounds they turned into 19 second-chance points.

But Cal was victimized by 16 turnovers against a team whose defense doesn’t force many, and the Cardinal transformed those into 16 points.